


Like a Horse Out of Hell

by Loudest_Voice



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon, Fire-forged Friends, In Medias Res, Insecurity, Jealousy, Lofty Goals: Monthly Updates, M/M, Magic Mumbo Jumbo, Magic Tomatoes, Middle Sibling Syndrome, Mind Control, Not Revelations/Invisible Kingdom Compliant, Oblivious Takumi, Pegasus - Freeform, Rapunzel hair, Reluctant Teamwork, Rescue Mission, Snark, UST, Vomiting, magic zombies, time skip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-03
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-05-24 10:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 21,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6151090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loudest_Voice/pseuds/Loudest_Voice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Leo meets Takumi, it's hate at first sight. Well, it's hate at first hearing that his sister Corrin is cool with a suicide mission to rescue his dumb, brainwashed ass from a legion of Faceless.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Uh, I don't even know if these two are gonna support in Revelations? So . . . crack pairing?
> 
> Pay no attention to my record of not finishing stories. I'm a busy woman.

No degree of reasoning will convince Corrin, or her odious Hoshidan sister, that leaving the youngest Hoshidan prince behind is their best option. But Leo must still try.

"Did you not hear Izana?" he demands. "He's ensorcelled by this unknown enemy, ready and eager to murder us all. Even if we were to 'rescue' him, how would we free him from this spell?"

"Leo." Corrin's wearing that face that gets them to do anything she asks. Leo hates that face. "We're his family. If we can just _talk_ to him, give him a chance, I'm sure he can break free."

"You met him a week ago," argues Leo, stomping on any guilt he might feel at his next words, "and it sounds like he hates you the most already."

"I didn't meet him yesterday," says Princess Hinoka. "And I won't abandon him."

Leo sighs, defeated. If Corrin will not listen to reason in regards to a brainwashed sibling, then there's no way Leo can convince her to abandon one who is merely stupid.

"Alright then," he says, gaze passing over the three of them.

Hinoka looks a second away from leaping onto her pegasus, Effie grips her lance so it doesn't slip from her fingers in the pouring rain, and Corrin graces him with a grateful, relieved smile, as though she expects that he's so smart that he can get them out of this mess alive. "Our best bet is to separate, move through the bushes and trees avoiding as many of these monsters as possible. I don't know if it will mean anything for these creatures, but sunrise will be upon us soon, and it will be harder to hide."

"Then?" asks Corrin.

"Our goal is to get Princess Hinoka within shouting distance of Prince." Leo pauses, blinks at no one in particular. That might be the stupidest thing he's ever said. "Perhaps if he sees you," he tells Hinoka, "about to be murdered, he will choose to . . ." be murdered with them once the Faceless realize that he's been overcome by brotherly affection ". . . return to your side."

"But that's too dangerous for Hinoka!" protests Corrin.

"No, it's fine," says Hinoka, sparing Leo from having to shout something unpleasant at his sister. "I'll take the risk."

"Alright, then we'll be right behind you to help," says Corrin.

"One of us should double back to warn the rest of the army," says Leo, trying to think of a way to convince Corrin that she should be the one to return. Something about being the unifying link between Hoshio and Nohr should do the trick.

"Effie," says Corrin, "you're the sturdiest among us."

"I'm also the slowest, my lady," says Effie, shaking her head. "Besides, I could never face Lady Elise if I abandoned her siblings in a battlefield."

"Then you should go, Leo," says Corrin.

Actually, in a perfect world where Takumi is being held against his will, Hinoka would be the best person to flee for reinforcements. But in reality, they're all likely to get murdered.

"I won't leave you," says Leo. "These beasts are weak to my magic, and none of you have impressive tactical minds."

"Ryoma will guess what's happened anyway," says Hinoka.

So they trek to the forest, Hinoka and Corrin approaching the abandoned ruins from the east while Leo and Effie do their best to draw as many Faceless towards them as possible. Though Effie's defenses are impressive, they cannot be expected to hold forever. She cannot move quickly enough to distract every Faceless, and Leo lacks the agility to dodge every single club that makes it his way.

His horse brays in alarm when its hind hooves tangle with a mess of vines hidden in the mud. Leo almost falls, and the brine of vicious trees he's calling from the ground miss their target. If not for Effie's javelin, Leo would have fallen to another Faceless coming at him from behind.

"My lord-- _augh!_ "

Effie's scream makes Leo's heart thunder. His horse stumbles. On instinct, Leo's slides to its right as it falls to the left. He lands on his shoulder, launching a spell in towards Effie's scream, hoping he catches the Faceless attacking her. Rather than her. His hand flies towards the hilt of his sword.

He catches the blunt end of a club with his sword, deploys Brynhildr as the beast's strength forces his knees to bend. A javelin hits another Faceless aiming at his side on the face, tumbling it to the muddy ground.

"This way, my lord!" yells Effie.

Leo follows the clank of Effie's armor, wiping at his eyes. They're not far from the ruins; if they can just . . . damn that bastard Takumi! Leo has never laid eyes on him and already he's savoring the day he can plan his fist on the idiot's face. Death waits for them at the damned ruins, all thanks to him.

"We must rejoin with Princess Corrin," says Effie when they stumble upon the ruins, mercifully at a side that appears devoid of Faceless. She leans against the grimy stone walls, breathing harshly.

"Effie--"

"I'm _fine_!" she yells. But she doubles over, hand gripping her belly, and spits blood on the dying grass.

"Here," says Leo, handing her his last remaining elixir.

"I can't--"

"I'll be dead without you," says Leo. He suspect he'll be dead regardless, but that's not going to persuade her to take the elixir.

Effie takes the elixir, but she doesn't look at him as she gulps it down. Leo doubts that it'll be enough to truly heal her, but he dares to hope that it'll keep her entrails where they belong. He sighs, looking up at the horizon to admire the orange tint of the sunrise.

"Thank you, my lord," says Effie, straightening up. "I won't let you down."

Leo's not going to hold her to unreasonable standards. "We must proceed carefully," he says, telling himself that it's for the best that he's lost his horse. "Can you fight without armor?" Inside the ruins and without any means to heal her, the noise will not be worth the risk.

She says nothing as she slips off the sturdy, pink metal, takes his sword without comment, and nods firmly. Leo promises himself that if they get out of this alive, he will gift Effie the sturdiest, must royal armor he can get his hands on.

"Let's go, my lord," says Effie. "Those bastards won't know what hit them."


	2. Chapter 2

It smells differently inside the ruins; as rank as the barracks in a hot day, but older. Like something's rotting under the sweat. Without the clanking of Effie's armor, Leo has little to focus on besides the stink.

"My lord, do you think we beat Princess Corrin here?"

Leo hopes not, considering Corrin is supposed to be coming by pegasus. "No, probably not," he says, eyes scanning around. The ceiling has caved in in several spot, allowing bland morning sunlight to bathe the grimy walls in a sickly light. "Let's move forward; they might be waiting for us to make a move."

Next turn, they are intercepted by a Faceless that moves faster than a monster its size has any right to. Effie runs Leo's sword through its chest, yet it stills lets out a vicious groan as it falls to the ground, then vanishes in a cloud of purple smog. Their pace quickens, but they cannot avoid an ambush by the beast's fellow monsters.

Leo strikes with Brynhildr, heedless of the noise the vines make as they rise from the ground to choke the Faceless. The sound of Effie striking with Leo's sword hits him as he spots a second wave of Faceless coming from a room deeper in the ruins.

"This way, my lord!" Effie drags him through a door behind them, standing in front of him as though she's still clad in armor. She slams Leo's sword through a Faceless' chest, then follows with a shoulder slam that's surprisingly effective even though she's without armor.

Leo summons Brynhild's vines a little beyond Effie. He smirks when the groans of multiple Faceless pollute the room. If they can just bottleneck the beasts behind the door, they might just cull their numbers until they can investigate the ruins for Corrin, then escape. But Effie can only block so many attacks with a flimsy sword. Leo's eyes flit around, searching for a barrier.

"Effie, jump back!"

Instantly, Effie is sidestepping towards him. Leo aims at the ceiling and deploys Brynhildr. The rocks burst, showering the incoming Faceless in heavy gravel. A green hand makes it through and Effie severs it at the wrist. A last monstrous scream pierces the air as the hand falls, vanishing in purple swirls before it hits the ground. Leo lets out a hacking cough.

"Are you well, my lord?"

"Fine," says Leo. She's the one with an ugly bruise blooming over her clavicle. "Let's go on."

Sunlight doesn't bleed through deeper into the ruins. Leo's heart stutters in the darkness, though he generally prefers it over the harsh glare of the open sky. It just doesn't seem as comforting when he expects claws, teeth, and clubs coming at him from every which way. He sighs in relief when another turn lands them near a set of stairs that open up to a second floor that lacks a roof entirely.

"Over there!" yells Effie.

Leo looks, spots Corrin struggling against a pair of rotund Faceless. Her arm morphs into a a jagged dragon limb as he rushes forward, Brynhildr ready. The Faceless falls under her dragon arm, but before Leon can celebrate, a burst of glowing blue magic strikes her on the back.

"Corrin!" he yells, gaze tracking the blue magic's path.

Perched on a buttress where the roof should be is none other than Prince Takumi of Hoshido, gathering a stream of magic on his hand that takes the shape of an arrow. Leo grunts, focuses his magic, and strikes at the wall with Brynhildr. Vines sprout through the wall, making Takumi stumble off the buttress. The bastard lands on his feet, rising smoothly to walk closer to Corrin, unconcerned with Leo.

"Effie, quickly," says Leo, readying another Brynhilds strike. He doesn't know if Takumi is resistant to magic attacks, but with his luck, it's likely.

"Takumi, please listen!" yells Corrin as Effie is rushing forward, sword cocked and ready. "You're being controlled. Fight through it."

A blast of purple-dark magic blasts Effie away from Takumi before her swordstrike can land. She falls on her butt several feet away from Takumi as he advances towards Corrin.

"No, you bastard!" shouts Leo, hitting with the strongest burst from Brynhildr that he manage.

Takumi barely stumbles. Strong against magic after all. Cursing, Leo runs towards Corrin, determined to knock her out so they can fight Takumi without hindrance if that's what it takes. A lost prince is not worth all this. He would want to be put down in Takumi's place.

Skyward braying interrupts Leo's advance. He looks up at the same time Takumi's focus shifts. A blue light arrow beams towards Hinoka, forcing her to jump off her pegasus to avoid the lethal strike. The pegasus brays, but lands on the floor unharmed. Hinoka rolls, stands in front of Takumi with her arms raised, palms forward in surrender.

"Brother, plea--"

Hinoka has to evade another magic arrow.

"Why's he acting like this?" asks Corrin.

Leo falters, sparing a glance towards Effie as she limps to their side, looking determined despite the blood trickling from her nostrils. Takumi is stalking closer towards Princess Hinoka, seemingly unconcerned with all of them.

"I will strike all of you down," he tells Hinoka. "I won't rest until I'm free."

Corrin rushes forward. "Takumi--"

" _Wait_." Leo grabs Corrin's shoulder, observing Takumi more closely.

Even on foot, Hinoka's agility surpasses that of her brother's. She dodges his magic arrows relatively easily, but is clearly hindered by her reluctance to hurt her fool of a brother.

"It's like he's forgot we're here," says Effie.

"Yes," says Leo, thoughts rushing.

"We have to help her," Corrin.

"Wait, trust me," says Leon, tugging her back. If his theory is correct, then the last thing they need is for Takumi to be any where near a family member.

Leo nods at Corrin, then approaches the dueling Hoshidan royals. The pegasus approaches the pair as well, almost hesitant. Perhaps the animal does not know which sibling to help.

It matters not. Hinoka notices Leo approaching long before Takumi gives any indication that he realizes there is a potential enemy closing in on him. In fact, he doesn't acknowledge Leo at all, not even when Leo is so close that the same cloud of dark magic that struck Effie envelops Takumi in a protective shield.

"You must run," Leo tells Hinoka as he wraps his arms around Takumi's shoulders, heedless of the shielding spell.

The dark magic flares, flooding Leo's nose with the same rotting stench he first noticed on the ground floor. Takumi finally notices him, but it's too late. Leo locks him in one of the many holds Xander taught him, thinking that Takumi will have to shave his head to the get the stink off. He twists, restricting blood flow to Takumi's brain, hoping that Hinoka won't play the idiot and try to defend her ensorcelled brother. She just manages to hold out until Takumi sags unconscious in Leo's arms.

"What did you _do_?" she demands, rushing to check on Takumi before the little idiot even hits the floor.

 _Saved your life,_ Leo doesn't say, but he can't keep from rolling his eyes. "Prince Takumi has been cursed with hatred towards his family," he tells Corrin. "That's why he ignored me at first."

"What do you mean?" asks Hinoka.

"What part of what I said was confusing?"

Whatever annoyed retort Hinoka would have responded with is drawn out by a stream of threatening groans. Faceless are coming through the stairs. Leo intercepts with Brynhildr, but there are too many coming.

"You must flee with Takumi," says Corrin.

"What?" demands Leo, eyes flitting towards Hinoka. Won't she argue?

"Please, Leo," says Corrin. "He'll go berserk if he sees us."

He's about to suggest Effie, but she's injured. And besides, Effie is a retainer, best in an environment with a lord she can protect. "I can't very well fight my way through the ruins with an unconscious hostage," he argues instead.

"Take my pegasus," says Hinoka.

"What?" Leo ignores the animal's encouraging bray. "No, I can't ride a pegasus."

"You're great with horses," says Corrin.

Leo calls Brynhildr's vines to strangle the incoming Faceless. They scream and vanish, just to be replaced with another incoming horde.

"Leo, you must do this," says Corrin, gripping Yato. "Just think of what you could learn about our enemy's power if you can properly examine Takumi."

"Do _not_ try to manipulate me, sister," says Leo. "You're no good at it."

"Go," says Corrin with a laugh. "Or Takumi might wake and we'll die fighting him."

Not if they just saw reason and put him down. But Leo knows when he doesn't have enough time to argue. With a nod to Effie, he looks down and gestures for Hinoka to set Takumi on his back. Climbing onto the pegasus is easier than he would have expected, perhaps because the beast cooperates and moves its wings out of the way.

"Leo, thank you," says Corrin.

"Don't die here," he responds.

Then he squeezes his thighs, signaling to the beast to move. He's not quite prepared for the sinking feeling when the pegasus lifts off, but he manages to launch one last Brynhildr at the incoming Faceless before they set off towards the sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My blog](http://www.dynamicallyopposed.com/), currently collecting followers, fans, and assorted dissenters.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Headcanoning commences here: 
> 
> 1) Takumi learned to ride a pegasus at some point because there's a bunch of them in Hoshido so why not?
> 
> 2) Archers have good vision.

The ruins aren’t out of sight before Leo realizes that he doesn’t have the slightest clue how he’s supposed to keep track of where they’re going on the pegasus. South? Maybe? By a Faceless’ testicles, he’s afraid to so much as twitch in case it sends the flying beast the wrong signal. How could anyone think that riding a horse would be applicable to this?

Takumi shifts on his back - more like slides a little - prompting Leo reach for him. Mercifully, the pegasus doesn’t throw them both off at once, though it does veer a little to the left. Leo tries to remember if he moved his thighs or legs, which might have signaled the animal to change directions.

“Hmgh.”

Leo freezes. Of course, of _course_ Takumi is waking at the worst possible time. Did he ever dare to expect anything different?

“Wha . . . _augh!_ ” 

“Please, stay calm,” says Leo, frowning at his own tone. He sounds like he’s about to vomit all over himself.

Speaking of, Takumi chooses that moment to throw up on the back of his neck.

Leo’s proud that aside from cringe, he doesn’t move. The pegasus flies on smoothly, not that it matters much. Takumi’s flailing the next instant, yelling some garble about what’s happening and where am I? and who’re you?

“Stop moving!” Leo screams.

But it’s too late. The pegasus brays, confused or scared or afraid, or both, and Leo has no idea what he’s supposed to do. It dives down. Takumi wraps his arms around Leo’s chest, most likely in a useless reflex, and Leo does his best to stay as still as humanly possible. This has to be a trained pegasus. If they can just keep still, it should be able to land on its own. He hopes.

It does so, thank every spirit in the realm, and in a pleasant meadow that’s a few feet away from a stream. Takumi leaps off the instant the pegasus’ hooves touch the grass, and Leo reaches for Brynhildr, ready to put the little bastard down. He can always make something up for Corrin. If Takumi is still hostile, then he won’t even have to.

Sadly, Takumi is only proceeding to barf his brains out on the grass, reminding Leo that his neck and back are coated with the content’s of the Hoshidan’s belly. He cringes, suddenly aware of the acrid smell wafting about. If only Hinoka had not taken Takumi’s weapon. Leo would enjoy sending the idiot to hell.

“Are you well?” he asks, for the sake of politeness.

“Shut up!” yells Takumi, cradling his face with his hands.

The pegasus brays, then walks closer and nuzzles his forehead. So the beast does recognize its master’s brother. Leo files that away, certain that it might be useful later.

“Who are you?” asks Takumi.

“. . . A Nohrian mage in service to Prince Xander,” says Leo. It’s technically not a lie.

But not much better than the truth, it turns out. Takumi whirls on him, hands moving as though to summon another one of those magic arrows. He falters when he realizes that he’s unarmed, but he doesn’t look a bit less threatening. The pegasus makes a threatening noise in Leo’s direction.

“You must remember that my . . . Lord Xander has allied with your brother,” Leo says quickly.

“But you’re all liars,” says Takumi. “What did you do to me?”

“I did nothing,” says Leo, wishing he knew Takumi better. As it is, he has no means to glean the right words to calm him down. “You’ve been ensorcelled by our kingdoms’ common enemy. Together with Princess Hinoka, I rescued you from a legion of Faceless, and then you attacked your sister.”

“I wouldn’t!” protests Takumi.

“You did,” insists Leo. “She tasked me with taking you away from her so I may attempt to free your mind.”

“Or you’ve kidnapped me,” says Takumi.

“With Hinoka’s pegasus?” demands Leo.

“That’s Lady Hinoka to you.”

Leo’s annoyed retort dies on his mouth when he spots the flickering motions of an invisible soldier rising from the stream, right behind Takumi. “Watch out!” he yells, attacking with Brynhildr.

It takes Takumi a moment, but he has the good sense to run towards Leo once he sees a second flickering enemy rise from the stream, the pegasus close behind. Leo has naught but a knife on him, but he hands it to Takumi anyway, praying that Hoshidan nobility has the good sense to practice with multiple weapons.

“We have to run,” he says. An archer has risen from the stream and Leo is not willing to lose the pegasus. Or their lives, but better not to focus on that. “Can you ride it?” he asks Takumi, gesturing at the beast.

“Yes, come on,” says Takumi.

It’s much better to ride the pegasus without having to worry about directions, or leading the animal. Still, Leo cannot aim with Brynhildr quite right, and Takumi is obviously not the best of pegasus riders. They just barely manage to dodge the flickering arrows, and Leo bets that has more to do with the pegasus itself than Takumi’s riding.

“Head towards the forest,” says Leo. It’s teeming with Faceless, true, but Leo is way more confident of his ability to deal with them.

The wind blows Takumi’s ponytail against Leo’s face as they flee, hindering Leo’s aim even further. Terrifyingly, the invaders seem to be keeping up with them, their flickers growing in distance the faster the pegasus flies.

“You know how to land in a forest, right?” Leo yells, struggling to be heard over the wind.

“Rose can land on her own.”

Well, _that’s_ reassuring. Leo stops trying to hit anything in particular with Brynhildr and instead lays waste on the ground where the invaders are running, tripping them with the mystical vines. “Fly closer to the ground!”

“What?” The pegasus has to make a wobbly glide to avoid a barrage of arrows. "You think their archers will miss if we're _closer_?"

“Just do it!” It’s a risk, but soon they’ll wish they’d taken it. “I can’t aim from this far.”

“I can see fine,” yells Takumi. “Those vine things hold them in place a little; just block them and then attack harder.”

It’s not perfect, but Leo can always do better with a plan. He spaces out Brynhildr’s strikes, then follows up with a stronger blast in the same spots. He’s so focused on the trip that he forgets he’s riding on a pegasus, and almost slips off when the beast makes a sharp turn to keep flying with the turbulent wind.

“Sorry,” he says, clinging to Takumi’s back.

“No, it’s working,” Takumi yells. “The invaders are falling; just keep doing that weird magic. There’s a group hiding by those bushes!”

Leo only sees cluster that’s greener than the surrounding grass. He repeats the trick around the area, then sags in relief when Takumi laughs.

“Got them!” he says. Joy changes his voice into something that doesn't grate Leo's ear. As much. “Alright Rose, we can go down. At the nearest clearing.”

Close call, and Leo knows it won’t be the last. He can only pray that Takumi will continue to cooperate for as long as it takes them to catch up with the rest of the military. Oh, and the curse that Leo’s suppose to sort out. There’s still that.

He’ll kill Takumi before he lets him hurt Corrin in an ensorcelled fit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More FE whining [here](http://www.dynamicallyopposed.com/).


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Headcanoning the sequel: Leo is a magic farmer.

The pegasus flies for at least an hour, well past the point where Leo’s relaxed behind Takumi, enjoying the wind caressing his face. Takumi’s hair beats at him occasionally, but Takumi doesn’t argue when Leo tucks the long ponytail between their torsos. It makes Leo happier than it’s reasonable, but it’s the first sign that Takumi is not always unreasonable, so Leo doesn’t argue with his feelings about it. Much.

Eventually, Takumi spots something particular among the clusters of bushes and trees. He gestures with the pegasus’ reins, and the animal dives. Leo’s belly sinks even though the glide is mostly smooth and Takumi doesn’t so much as flinch. He doesn’t take another breath until the pegasus’ hooves hit the grass and Takumi orders him to get off.

It’s not as open a clearing as the first, but there’s a smaller pond surrounded by trees blooming with those pink flowers common to Hoshido. For the moment, Leo ignores what that might mean (they had been closer to Nohr, he’s _sure_ of it) because his throat is as dry as sandpaper. He rushes to the pond, trying not to think about how draining Brynhildr can be, or how long ago he had a proper meal. It’s the least of his problems at the moment, anyway.

“It tastes fine?” asks Takumi as Leo gulps down water.

“Yes,” says Leo. It’s colder than the wind, and though it soothes Leo's throat, it doesn’t bode well for them. They’ll need a fire at night, which might attract more monsters.

Takumi slides beside him to drink, his long ponytail falling forward. Its tip dips into the water. The pegasus follows his lead, then nuzzles Takumi’s head once it’s had its fill.

“Is there any chance that pegasus could take us back to Princess Hinoka?” asks Leo.

“Could a horse do such a thing?” demands Takumi.

No, not even close, but a horse is no flying beast. He tries not to think of his horse, lost--or most likely dead--in a forest infested with Faceless.

“Some wyverns can sense their masters,” says Leo, thinking of Camilla’s undead partner.

“Yeah, that’s because some of them are dead things full of foul magic,” says Takumi. “Rose is nothing like that.”

The pegasus nuzzles Takumi again at the sound of its name, even said in that nasty tone. Leo takes a silent breath, determined not to be drawn into a pointless argument. A gust of wind passes through them.

“You stink,” says Takumi, obliterating Leo’s desire for peace.

“That’s because you threw up on me,” he says, shuddering at a sudden awareness of how something is clumped on the hairline at the back of his neck.

“Oh,” says Takumi, glancing at him from beneath his messy bangs. “Sorry about that.”

If anything, the apology darkens Leo’s mood further. He says nothing and instead begins to remove his clothing. “I might as well wash before we’re ambushed again.”

Takumi follows his lead and begins disrobing as well, though it takes him longer to undo the many knots on his silly Hoshidan outfit. He’s surprisingly fit underneath the fur and robes, his muscles lithe and smooth and . . . symmetrical. Leo looks away, cursing himself a fool for wondering how his narrow shoulders and and jutting clavicles must look to someone raised in the lap of luxury and sunlight. Is not like Takumi is even glancing his way.

The ponytail is its own project. There are more knots than obvious, and it must have been braided in some strange Hoshidan style because because when Takumi’s done messing with it, his hair is all the way mid-thigh.

“What are you looking at?”

“Any outward sign of the curse,” says Leo, absurdly proud of himself for recovering so quickly, and with such a plausible explanation.

“. . . Right,” says Takumi.

Much to Leo’s surprise, he actually gathers his hair and pulls it over his shoulder, turning around to show his naked back. “I don’t feel anything strange.”

No, there’s just smooth, pale skin that seems to go on forever. “I don’t see anything.”

“Nothing odd in my front either,” says Takumi, swallowing loudly. “Do you need to check anywhere else?”

Getting into the pond is an exercise that Leo is not looking forward to, especially when Takumi takes a deep breath and _jumps_ in. He pops right back up, lets out a strangled half-scream, but keeps everything below his neck underwater.

“This will be easier the faster you do it,” he tells Leo, shivering.

Leo very much doubts that, but he’s not about to look timid in front of a Hoshidan little bastard. He goes into the pond, though he’s not about to do something as childish as _jumping in._

He wishes he had. The water is freezing, and the approaching cold seems to sensitize his skin. Icy knives are stab his nerves the deeper he goes in, but he keeps his expression as frozen as the pond so that Takumi has no opportunities to taunt him. Not that Takumi is bothering to appreciate Leo's stony look. His limbs move under water, probably scrubbing, thankfully obscured.

“What are we gonna eat?” asks Takumi once Leo is all the way in. “And I need a weapon.”

“I’ll handle the food,” says Leo.

The pegasus--Rose is happily feasting on the grass along the pond. Good. They’ll undoubtedly need to flee again. Their chances are better if their mount is well-fed and rested.

Leo rubs at the back of his neck to make sure every last trace of vomit is off.

Leaving the pond is another task worthy of the legendary hero Ike. They cannot just rush for their clothing as to not get them wet, so they must stand in the wind until their skin dries. Leo offers the sun a pathetic prayer of thanks for blessing them with a bit of warmth.

“So about food,” says Takumi once they’re mercifully clothed.

“I said I’ll handle it,” says Leo, praying that the cold will leave his bones someday.

He tries to guess the best distance from the pond, sits cross-legged on the grass, closes his eyes, and begins the magic process that tends to be a bust more often than not. There’s plenty of thick green grass, so he hopes that this land is more fertile than what he’s used to and focuses with Brynhildr. First step is to kill anything already in the soil, then use the leftovers to fertilize the area as much as possible.

“What’re you doing?” asks Takumi.

Leo ignores him. Destroying something, even in a somewhat organized fashion, is faster and easier than making something grow. Which is the next step of his parlor trick. He breathes, concentrates on the finer, more fertile edges of Brynhildr’s power, and starts forming suitable roots.

Soon enough, Takumi loses interest. Leo senses that wanders a little away and doesn’t bother to pay much attention. Though the soil is more fertile than he expected-- _much_ more--it still takes immense focus to guide the roots, to make them extract the necessary nutrients from the ground and rise above the dirt to bathe in the warmth of the sun. Rose shambles closer and Leo swears he’ll choke the beast with the thorniest vines he manage if it tramples over his plants. Or breaks his concentration.

“Don’t bother him, Rose!” he hears Takumi say. “Come on, this way.”

The pegasus walks off, leaving Leo to focus on the most challenging aspect of the spell. The fruit. And not just any fruit, but a bounty that will give them substance. Or at least enough that the energy Leo spent will be worth it. He doesn’t dare stop until Brynhildr is seeping power off his bones, until it hurts to expand his chest to take in air.

He opens his eyes and gasps.

“You’re done?” says Takumi, rising from the grass, where he’d apparently napped while Leo worked. At some point, he'd fixed his ponytail. Even the sun is halfway on its trek through the sky. “That’s an _amazing_ spell.”

Leo can’t believe what he’s seeing. There’s an entire patch of tomatoes--fat, glistening red tomatoes so heavy that it seems the vines are doubling over. Leo starts counting them, stops after he reaches the twelfth, dizzy with accomplishment. Once, he'd gotten four and bragged to himself about it for a month.

Takumi reaches for a cluster without asking for permission and bites down before Leo can warn him of anything. “They’re delicious,” he says as juice dribbles down his chin. “Can all Nohrian mages do this?”

Leo reaches for a cluster himself. They’re ripe and smooth, so sweet that Leo considers that he might’ve created an entirely new fruit that only looks like tomatoes. There are so many that they might be able to spare some for Rose.

“I bet no one ever goes hungry in Nohr,” says Takumi.

“I’m the only one who can do this,” snaps Leo. A memory of Nohr’s arid fields dampens the sweetness on his tongue. Not even _he_ can do this. Not really. As if Norh would bother conquering any land worth a piece of bronze of Nohrian mages could _all_ do this.

This boon confirms Leo’s earlier fears. They are nowhere near Nohr. Leo could never have done something like this in Nohr.

“Thanks . . .” Takumi huffs. “You haven’t told me your name.”

“You haven’t asked.” What an insufferable, entitled brat. “Leo. My name is Leo.”

“Like the Nohrian prince?” asks Takumi without a hint of suspicion.

“Yes,” says Leo. “Exactly like the Nohrian prince.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go [here](http://www.dynamicallyopposed.com/) for my latest videogaming saga. It's not pretty.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very short chapter. But I didn't want to pad it, so here we are.

They can’t finish all the tomatoes, not even with Rose’s help. The leftovers go inside the satchel hanging of Rose’s saddle, but Leo doesn’t even pretend to have a clear idea of what they should do next. Judging by the stricken frown on Takumi’s face, he doesn’t have much of a plan either.

“Which Hoshidan villages are closest to the border?” asks Leo.

“Huh? Why? We’re nowhere close to Hoshido.”

As Leo suspected. Hoshido might boast fertile land, but he’s not so proud that he would assume he could harvest such plentiful tomato vines with just fertile soil. There’s something more. Magic sizzles in the atmosphere around them, so much so that Leo gets goosebumps whenever anything startles him.

“We should try to find cover somewhere,” says Takumi. “It’ll be colder once the sun sets, so we’ll need a fire.”

“Fine,” says Leo. “Just make sure not to overtax this beast. We’ll have to keep coming back to this pond until we find another source of water.” By Brynhildr’s thorniest vine, travelling without a proper map is such a tedious disaster.

Rose takes them to a picturesque grove beside a cluster of tall rocks that hunch together to form a makeshift cave. Finding suitable firewood doesn’t take much more than an hour; it’s as though they’ve stumbled into an abandoned coppiced timber, except nothing about the area looks as though it has ever been disturbed by human hands. Rabbits, running together like mated pairs in children’s books, pass by often. None of them seem concerned about them or Rose.

They must be in the Invisible Kingdom. Anankos' domain. Leo finds it both more and less horrifying than expected. More because he cannot reason why such a seemingly bountiful kingdom orchestrates needless bloodshed between two other kingdoms, and less because . . . well, it's a bountiful kingdom. Barring any vicious storms, Leo doesn't expect that they will have much trouble procuring shelter, food, and drink.

He has to keep an eye on himself, or he might let his guard down. Faceless and those invisible enemies have a habit of appearing from nowhere.

“If only I had Fujin Yumi,” Takumi sighs, rubbing his hands together as he gazes at a pair of passing rabbits longingly.

“I doubt you would need it to take down rabbits,” says Leo, swaying a little closer to their fire. His back is chilled, making him further appreciate the toasty crackle of the flames in front of him.

Takumi snorts. “I can never do anything without Fujin Yumi.”

That sounds off to Leo. Wielding a holy weapon takes considerable skill. He would use simple fire magic to catch game himself, but his powers are either explosive and quick, or slow and surgically precise. He would blow the rabbits to smithereens, or they would flee. Takumi, or the other hand, managed to create arrows with magical winds.

However, he’s not about to admit that the Hoshidan prince has superior control. Not when he’s already so insufferably smug. Petty, but Leo doesn’t pretend to be the height of maturity all the time. He can wait a few days to get his hands on protein. Maybe he’ll like Takumi better then.

“How come my sister let some random Nohrian mage fly off with me and Rose?”

Doubtful, but isn’t Corrin always singing praises to the concept of hope?

“We were being ambushed,” says Leo, closing his eyes so he can focus on not frowning with worry. “You were being hostile so I had to knock you out, then Lady Hinoka and Lady Corrin judged that we wouldn’t be able to protect you in the middle of a battle. And here we are.”

“Corrin?” demands Takumi. Rose trots to his side, summoned by the anger in his voice. “My sister’s with that traitor?”

Technically, they are both Takumi’s sister, but that’s a truth that still tastes like ashes in Leo’s mouth. “It’s not Lady Corrin’s fault that she was abducted as a child.”

“She went back to Nohr after that bastard Garon used her to kill our mother!” spits Takumi.

“She didn’t,” says Leo. “She just couldn’t bear to fight us--the siblings she grew up with; the ones who loved her all her life.”

“If you find out you live among snakes, then the only recourse left to you is to cut off their heads.”

“This is getting us nowhere,” says Leo. He refuses to sink into some stupid philosophical debate when he’s lost in a strange land with a cursed prince from an enemy kingdom.

“Finally, you say something not-dumb,” says Takumi. “How far into Nohr are we? Can’t be too far since there are sakura trees blossoming by that pond.”

“We’re not in Nohr, you idiot,” says Leo. "Just try to sleep; I have thinking to do."

"Wait, you have to explain--"

"I don't have to do anything but meditate," says Leo, huddling close to the fire and closing his eyes. "Maybe tomorrow, I'll have a better idea of where we are."

Let Takumi seethe. It's the least he deserves after that snakes comment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My blog](http://www.dynamicallyopposed.com/). I download Revelations today. Stay tuned for important thoughts and ideas.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm playing Revelations, and I just realized I totally missed how the fack Azura and co. got out of Valla or whatever it was called. This is what I get for playing while distracted.

Next morning, Leo wakes slowly, fighting a heavy weight that tries to drag his mind back into a numbing sleep. Leo has long since schooled himself to wake smoothly and quickly, always weary of the many bastards and sycophants who dream of thinning the herd close to King Garon. Not that Leo considers himself close to his father, but he sees how some might come to a different conclusion. Leo cultivated quite a few rumors about being King Garon’s favorite back when he was young and naive enough to think such a position would protect him.

“Hey, this is no place for deep sleep.”

Takumi’s voice cuts through the fog in his head, makes his heart gallop and his breath quicken. Leo startles awake, bending forward as though zapped by a nasty Mjölnir strike.

“Whoa, you alright?” asks Takumi, leaning towards him. Rose neighs softly, but doesn’t scuttle any closer to them even though Takumi sounds a bit distressed.

“I’m fine,” says Leo, ignoring the pained band wrapped around his temple like a headband. Not so different than tension headache, but Leo knows better.

“You sure?” insists Takumi.

“Does the pegasus seem like its usual self?” asks Leo.

“Huh?” Rose is on the ground, seemingly asleep. Her wings are curled around her body, oddly limp. A fine tremor runs through her supple legs.

Takumi rushes to her side and starts gently threading his fingers through her white hair. She neighs softly, wings fluttering, and tries raise her neck. Whatever magic deepened Leo’s sleep must also be affecting her. For some reason, Takumi appears unaffected.

“Rose?” says Takumi, nuzzling her. “Come on, Hinoka will kill me if I let anything happen to you.”

The pegasus makes a small, distressed noise and squeezes her eyes shut. Leo approaches them while Takumi huddles closer, murmuring meaningless reassurances. He’s eager for the opportunity to examine anything affected by the strange magic of the Invisible Kingdom. Such examinations are always risky, but better to make a mistake with a pegasus’ mind rather than with a prince from kingdom that has a flimsy alliance with yours.

“Let me see,” says Leo, laying his hands over the beasts’ brow.

Tendrils of subtle, misty magic are enveloping the poor creature’s brain, working in synchrony to redirect the flickers that make up its primitive thoughts. Leo tries to grab at them, but they slide away like water slipping through a sieve. Shivers run down his spine, edging ever closer to pain. Around them, the air suddenly tastes thickly sweet, so much so that Leo is tempted to hold his breath. But it’s not easy to cast magic with an uneven breathing pattern. He pushes through, ignoring how his eyes tear up.

Rose brays the instant Leo manages to break the web over her mind, her neck rearing away as though electrocuted. Leo gasps, muscles seizing with burning agony, mercifully for just an instant. He’s certain that he is going to vomit all over himself, dimly remembering how Takumi had barfed down his neck just the previous day. Had that been the magic as well?

“Rose!” says Takumi, rising with the beast. “Calm down," he murmurs, "it’s fine, I’m here.”

_Leo thinks, taking a deep breath as his stomach roils._

“What did you _do?_ ” demands Takumi.

“The same magic that made you attack your sister tried to possess that pegasus.” _And me too, I’m pretty sure,_ Leo doesn’t add.

“I still don’t believe you about that,” says Takumi.

“What does it matter to me if you believe me?” The pain’s nothing but a phantom now, but Leo is still off-balance. He stands, intending to stretch his limbs just reassure himself that his body is still functioning. Rose seems calmer, huddled closer with Takumi. Leo swears that it’s looking at him with suspicious eyes.

“How does this curse work anyway?”

Leo has his theories. “It burrows into the victim’s mind and forces them to act on their darkest desires.” Thankfully, a pegasus doesn’t have many of those, so the curse only made the beast anxious.

“As if,” says Takumi. “I don’t want to hurt Hinoka, not even secretly.”

“Evidently, you do,” says Leo.

“Shut up, you stupid jerkface!”

Leo raises an eyebrow, then smirks when Takumi blushes and hides his face on the pegasus’ white mane. Privately, he supposes he can understand why Takumi would snort at the suggestion that he wishes Hinoka any harm. Considering how enamored with the brat Rose appears, it’s probable that the Hoshidan siblings are very close. Pegasi are reportedly very in tune with their masters' emotions. Rose would not be so protective of Takumi if Hinoka didn't feel similarly.

“Everyone has dark feelings, especially for family,” says Leo.

A fine shudder runs through Leo at the thought of what the curse might do to _him_. Would his envy towards Xander consume him? Or would his resentment at Camilla and Elise for playing favorites with Corrin get to him first? Would he just throw caution to the wind and attack his father in a rage?

“What’s the point of making me try and kill my family anyway?” demands Takumi.

“Is that a serious question?” Leo can’t imagine how stupid Takumi must be not to understand what a blow it would be for Hoshido if one of their sainted princes went mad.

“I’m nowhere strong enough to kill Ryoma,” snaps Takumi, “and as long as he’s around, he can raise Hoshido out any hole I might throw it in.”

Leo is not so certain of Ryoma’s invincibility, but he sees the point Takumi is edging towards. Deploying a brainwashed Takumi like a ballista might cause momentary confusion and pain for Hoshido, but it would be much smarter to send him in as a sleeper agent. He could get away with so much without ever arousing suspicion, especially in a court as obnoxiously trusting as Hoshido is rumored to be.

With snakes swimming in his belly, Leo realizes that he needs to pay much closer attention to Takumi, especially now that he seems unaffected by the curse.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So . . . I'm playing Revelations. Not sure how the characters go from Valla back to . . . not Valla. Like, do they teleport?

Somehow, they must capture and interrogate one of the flickering warriors that inhabit the strange world where they've fallen. They’ll wander around until they're mad otherwise, stumbling dizzily whenever a cloud blocks the brilliant sun. At least, Leo thinks it’s clouds. It must be, never mind that it’s more like mountain peaks are moving through the sky, shrouding the ground with clearly demarcated shadows.

“Do you get the feeling that we’ve fallen somewhere?” asks Takumi.

“How do you mean?”

“Like we’re nearing the edge of a deep crevasse,” says Takumi.

That hardly makes any more sense, but Leo is not in the mood to hear Takumi’s vapid ramblings. For three days they've been lost in this deceptively picturesque world, spending all his energy growing tomatoes, fleeing from hordes of near-invisible enemies, and trying not to offend that odious pegasus. Leo hasn’t even managed to properly examine the curse wrapped around Takumi like a spiderweb. He’s even sure of where on the dragon’s blasted earth they are, except that they’re following a river they found on the second day.

Settlements form around rivers. If they’re going to find anyone, Nohrian or Hoshidan, it will be near the river. Or so Leo hopes.

“Do you think you’re _that_ strong?” asks Takumi.

No, but they’re accomplishing nothing by running around like wyverns with singed tails. “I’m not entirely alone, am I? Isn’t Hoshidan royalty supposed to be unparalleled on the battlefield?”

“But I don’t have Fujin Yumi,” complains Takumi.

Rose makes a threatening snort in Leo’s general direction, suggesting that Takumi is more upset than is obvious by his tone.

“It’s a _holy_ weapon.”

“Without a wielder, it’s a hunk of elegant metal.”

“How _dare_ you - ”

“How dare I _what?_ ” Shouts Leo. “Suggest that you might have some battle prowess of your own? Forgive me for not wanting to be stuck in enemy territory with an imbecile.”

Rose is frozen on her spot beside Takumi, as stunned by the outburst as her master. Leo has spent the entire ordeal acting as deferential as he can manage, determined not to make Takumi suspect his true identity. Though that might be a waste of time. Takumi distrusts him, but it’s an aimless distrust aimed at anything Nohrian rather than any personal dislike. Or extreme personal dislike. Specific intrigue seems to be beyond the brat.

“I apologize,” Leo says anyway. Like it or not, he _is_ alone with the fool. “Let us find a place to camp out for the evening. With all the practice I’ve been getting, I think I might be able to harvest something besides tomatoes.”

A suitable grove materializes within minutes even though they have no idea where they are going. Leo resists the idea that it’s somehow been summoned - or sent - by their desire for a spot to rest, and sits cross-legged while Takumi looks for firewood. No being has such power; he’s becoming paranoid.

Takumi undoes his ridiculous ponytail while Leo tries to concentrate on his magic. His fingers thread through the pale locks, gently unravelling knots, making Leo wonder if the hair is as silky as it looks. Leo would tell him to stop, but he can’t think of a reason why the action would distract him that doesn’t make him look like a fool. He would ask Takumi to take Rose for a walk, except the pegasus is napping peacefully by Takumi’s side.

Leo frowns at himself. It's one thing to occasionally enjoy the sight of soldiers training, and another entirely to be distracted by an enemy prince. Who hates him and doesn't know who he is. And is cursed.

“I’m sorry I’m not much use,” Takumi says out of the blue, cutting through Leo’s spiral of self-irritation.

“What?”

“I know you’ve been doing all the work down here,” says Takumi miserably “Without you, I’d have died the first day. So, you know, thank you.”

“. . . You’re welcome,” says Leo.

“Fujin Yumi is much more powerful than you realize,” continues Takumi. “If I don’t have it, then I’m no use.” He rips a knot of hair off his scalp, making Leo wince silently.

That’s quite a mountain of self-esteem issues that Leo did not expect. “Fujin Yumi or no,” he says, “your vision is exceptional.”

“Huh?”

“You can see our pursuers before I can,” says Leo. “When we fly, you help focus my magic.”

“I guess . . .”

“As much as it pains me to admit it,” says Leo without bothering to suppress a frown, “I probably would have died without you as well. If nothing else, Rose would not have tolerated me if you were not here.”

“That’s definitely true,” says Takumi, patting Rose’s spine. “But, you know, she’s the one who can fly.”

Leo doesn’t have time to remind Takumi that riding a flying mount requires skill. “My point is, you could help me set a trap for our attackers. In fact, you’ll have to if we want to make any progress.”

“Weren’t you going to see about that curse?”

“I’m exhausted after making food for us every day.”

Takumi frowns, then lowers his head until his hair is hiding his expression. “Alright,” he says, “I’ll help. Maybe we can steal a bow, then go from there. I'll be able to hunt even with a crappy bow.”


	8. Chapter 8

It takes an interminable three days of fleeing and resting for Takumi to spot a group of flickering enemies that they might set a trap for.

“There’s three following us,” he tells Leo, “two bowmen and a swordmaster. They . . . rest, kind of.”

“Have they ever made a fire?”

“No.”

Leo sighs, then bites his lower lip. It could be an illusion meant to draw them into an ambush, or it could be . . . something else. He doubts he’ll be able to tell until they’re too close to avoid a trap. Unlike Iago, he has no gift for illusory spells. A shame. He would utilize them much more effectively than that masked fool.

“We could try flying over them,” says Leo, glancing at Rose. With her brilliant white fur and plumage, she’d stand out like a beacon in the knight sky. Clouds would serve them better. “Do you think you’d get a serviceable view if we fly closer to the clouds?”

“Depends on what you mean by ‘serviceable’,” says Takumi. “I’d see how many they are and how quick they move, but not much else. It’d be colder up there too.”

Useless, not that Leo would be able to see anything but scurrying spots on the ground from so high. And he’ll need to do more than that see to detect if the trio of invisible enemies are real.

“Let’s try it,” says Leo, choosing to proceed as if they are. Damn the consequences if they’re not. For now. “I need you to fly me directly over them and hover, hiding the pegasus in the clouds, so I can focus on a special spell.”

“How long?” asks Takumi. “And if the wind is turbulent, Rose might not be able to hover smoothly enough to let you concentrate on your magic.”

“Half an hour,” says Leo. “And let me worry about the magic.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” says Takumi. Since it’s not exactly argument, Leo lets it pass without comment.

Mounting the flying beast is easier this time, though Leo can’t tell if it’s because it’s more comfortable with him, because the weather is more favorable, or because he himself is more comfortable with the beast. Regardless, Leo enjoys the excuse to wrap Takumi’s ridiculous ponytail around his fist so it doesn’t beat him in the eyes while he meditates, and sighs as the cold wind caresses his face. He wishes he could open his eyes and drink in the view. He might lack Takumi’s markman’s vision, but the strange world is gorgeous to him nonetheless.

A few times, the wind turns furious and Rose is beat off course, startling Leo from the deep well of magic he’s trying to sink down towards. He has to cling to Takumi’s frame every time it happens, and he can’t help but note that Takumi seems unbothered by the proximity. It’s humiliating that feeling Takumi’s body - vaguely, through layers of Hoshidan robes - breaks Leo’s concentration more severely than the threat of falling off a pegasus flying just under clouds, but that’s what Leo’s been reduced to.

It's one thing to admire Nohrian soldiers are they run through training drills and another thing entirely to butcher his magic because he finds a Hoshidan prince absurdly pretty.

“We’re right over them,” says Takumi, clearly oblivious to Leo’s struggle. “It is just three of them, standing around like statues. They have that glimmering thing about them.”

“Hm,” hums Leo. “I’ll tell you when to go down.”

Few people understand how he can force such explosive, vicious trees in the middle of a fight, but still need anywhere from several minutes to several hours to nurture anything else. To Leo, the answer is obvious: it is in the universe’s nature to destroy, so of course offensive magic is worlds simpler than anything that requires coordination.

Today, Leo requires considerable coordination.

“Down now,” says Leo. “Smooth and quick.”

He’s ready for the sinking feeling brought by any sudden movement of Rose’s, so he uses this one to time Brynhilr’s release. He opens his eyes as Rose sinks, deftly guides the rising whip-like vines towards their enemies’ limbs. Brynhildr digs thorns into enemy muscles and skin as Rose’s hooves hit the grass, but the enemies do not make a sound. Leo searches their eerie, magenta gazes as he dismounts, hopes sinking as quickly as Rose had. How can they interrogate these people if they are unfazed by Brynhildr wrapping around their necks and cutting off their air supply?

Takumi wastes no time on their prisoners at all, drawn instead towards the bow one of them dropped on the verdant grass. Its steel glints as Takumi raises it to the sky, testing the strength of its taut bowstring.

“It’s not Fujin Yumi,” he mumbles, “but I guess it’s better than nothing.”

Leo ignores him and walks towards the swordmaster. Though her gaze is as blank as the archers’, her right hand still grips the hilt of her sword. Brynhildr has her joints trapped in an unforgiving web, yet she still struggles. There is an illogical human mind behind those glowing eyes to question. Leo just needs to find the right words. Or actions. He narrows his eyes, flicking his fingers so that Brynhildr’s vines tighten around the swordmaster’s joints - everywhere but her neck. He wants her uncomfortable, but alive.

“Where are we?” he asks, mildly, as though they are sharing a friendly cup of tea.

An arrow flies past Leo’s ear, striking the swordmaster’s neck. It’s a clean hit, producing only a thin trickle of blood. The swordmaster’s expression barely changes, then her face relaxes and her eyelids droop.

“What are you -- ”

Rose lets out a fearful neigh. It’s Leo’s only warning against the next arrow. He ducks, watches it land a couple of inches in front of his eyes.

Takumi immediately turns his attention to their remaining prisoners. As Leo struggles to his feet, he drives arrows through their necks. Rose trots away from him, wings quivering with indecision.

Heart pounding, Leo directs Brynhildr’s vines towards Takumi’s limbs. Seeping purple magic oozes from his ears, the corners of his eyes, his nostrils. His fingers reach for the fletchings, but Brynhildr's vines wrap around his wrists, elbows, and knees. A guttural moan escapes his lips.

Leo curls his hand into a fist. Brynhildr tightens around Takumi’s neck, and Leo doesn’t dare loosen his fist until Takumi has gone limp.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that Leo can technically use a sword, but I never equip anything besides Brynhildr.

Leo loosens the vine around Takumi’s neck the instant he’s sure that the little bastard has lost consciousness, then rushes toward him. He sags with relief at the sound of air rushing past Takumi’s nostrils, and looks around. The bodies of the three shimmering enemies have already vanished, but their weapons remain on the grass, glinting under the brilliant sun peeking from behind the clouds.

A katana and two bows, all of excellent quality. And new, as though they've just left the armory. Hoshidan and Nohrian weapons fighting side by side. Leo smirks to himself. Corrin might consider it hopeful, but it makes his entrails twist.

He steps closer to Takumi, wincing at the redness blooming across his neck. If only they weren’t in an open field, Leo would leave Takumi where he is, securely wrapped by Brynhildr’s vines, but it would be practically suicide. For the last three days, they’ve been scurrying from spot to spot, using scattered boulders and clusters of trees for some semblance of cover, taking turns keeping watch.

“Rose,” tries Leo.

The pegasus neighs and steps closer to Takumi.

Leo decides that it’s a good sign that it’s not attacking him, or trying to flee from Takumi's side. “I need you to fly us away from here,” he says, and instantly feels stupid. It’s a horse with wings; it doesn’t understand human speech.

But it did fly Leo away from an ambush once, so it’s not impossible. With a sigh, Leo guides Brynhildr’s vines away from Takumi’s joints, catching his unconscious form when it tries to fall to the ground. He’s much heavier than he looks, or Leo is just more of a mage than he realizes.

“Now what?” He asks Rose.

She brays, wings fluttering.

Grunting, he shifts until Takumi’s arms drape his shoulders. Gray bangs tickle his cheek, making Leo bow to shear Takumi’s stupid hair off at the earliest opportunity. Rose trots beside him, showing him her side, making an impressively human gesture towards the saddle. Get on, she might be saying.

Yes, well. Leo has little confidence that he’ll manage to mount the pegasus with Takumi at his back. Corrin and Princess Hinoka had helped last time.

Rose brays in obvious impatience.

“Alright, alright,” mutters Leo, trying his best to stabilize Takumi with one arm while reaching for Rose’s reins with the other. Cursing himself a fool, he finally realizes that he can use Brynhildr to tie Takumi to his back, and even help with the dead weight. Rose also helps, displaying an impressive degree of flexibility with one of her wings.

“You’ll have to deal with Brynhildr for a bit,” Leo tells the pegasus as vines wrap around her torso to anchor Takumi to her side. He dismounts when his charge is secure, then spends a good few minutes swinging one of Takumi’s legs over Rose’s saddle. They must look like such idiots; Takumi almost toppling off the pegasus and Leo panting around to keep him astride, manipulating magical branches meant to squeeze and kill their target.

He barely remembers to grab one of the bows and a quiver. At some point, Takumi might be capable of holding a weapon without losing his mind. Leo takes the katana as well, though he’s not the best swordsman, even with a proper Nohrian broadsword.

Getting on the saddle with Takumi on the way promises to be an awkward struggle of its own, at least until Leo realizes that he should sit _behind_ Takumi. His head throbs, proving that a morning spent manipulating Brynhildr in novel way has dulled his wits.

To add insult to injury, Takumi is slightly taller than Leo, at least with that silly ponytail. Leo reaches for the red ribbon holding it in place and pulls it downwards, sparing only a moment to feel guilty for any locks he might be ripping from Takumi’s scalp. He wraps his arms around Takumi, reaching for the reins, then kicks lightly at Rose’s side.

He still has little idea of how to guide Rose, but the trip is not as nerve-wracking as the first one. The animal is fairly intelligent, for one, and Takumi is no longer breathing down his neck, meaning Leo is in no danger of being showered with vomit. He resolves to ask Takumi for whatever basic commands Rose follows from a rider as soon as possible, so if they ever end up in a similar situation, he’ll have some control of where to fly. In retrospect, he doesn't know why it hadn't occurred to him yet.

Rose returns to the grove they left earlier, and Leo would have chosen a new spot altogether to avoid anyone who might have been tracking them. At least he doesn’t have to worry about firewood.

Getting Takumi off Rose is simpler, but the trip has not made him lighter and Leo gets more lightheaded with each passing minute. He reaches into the satchel by Rose’s hip, thanking whatever possessed him to learn to grow tomatoes despite Nohr’s arid terrain.

Takumi’s still unconscious after Leo’s done devouring their leftovers. The bruise around his neck has achieved a vicious shade of red, and Brynhildr’s vines are wilting. Leo doesn’t have it in him to cast more, so he sags by Rose’s side and prays that Takumi will be himself when he wakes up.

“Shouldn’t you be by his side?” he asks Rose, curious about the pegasus’ sudden preference for his company. “Is he still possessed?”

Dumb question, and not just because Rose can’t answer. Takumi hasn’t been _un_ -possessed for a while now.

But something has obviously changed, or the pegasus would be sitting by him, not letting Leo lean his back against her hind leg.

Takumi lets out a pained whimper before Leo can consider the puzzle further. Rose tenses beside him, which does nothing to calm his nerves. He’s still drained from the trip and has little hope of casting anything more complex than a destructive spell.

If Takumi attacks him, Leo will have to kill him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is talky as hell.

Takumi wakes slowly, making pained noises and rubbing his forehead. He glances at Leo and grunts, but doesn’t make any threatening moves. Leo breathes a little easier, though he does not ignore how Rose is making no moves towards Takumi. They are not out of the water yet.

“Did I hurt you?” asks Takumi.

Well, Leo had not been expecting that. 

“No.” Though he still mourns the opportunity to question an inhabitant of this strange world. 

He watches Takumi disentangle himself from what’s left of Brynhildr’s vines, and sit on a cross-legged position. Takumi’s neck bruise is a stark, vicious red contrasting the smooth paleness of his skin. Once or twice, his eyes steal towards the steel bow by Leo’s hip. At least he knows better than to ask for it.

“Are you in pain?” Leo asks when Takumi cradles his forehead with both hands.

“I’m sorry,” says Takumi, threading his fingers through his grayish hair. “I get it if you’d rather go on alone.”

And risk Takumi returning to their world, sights on Corrin? 

“I won’t do that,” says Leo. “I promised I would free you from this curse.”

“Can you?” asks Takumi as he fixes his ponytail.

“I will.” If not, then Leo will have to kill him. “But I will need your complete cooperation.” 

Rose snorts at that. Leo refuses to entertain the idea that the animal might have shifted its loyalties toward him. It grants the beast too much cognitive credit, for starters.

“Tell me everything you remember about the incident,” orders Leo, “and focus on your feelings.”

“My f-feelings?” says Takumi, undoing his ponytail. He doesn’t meet Leo’s eyes.

“Yes,” says Leo. “Mind-controlling curses rely on exploiting the target’s emotions, especially negative ones. If I understand yours, then I’ll know how to break it.”

Rather, Takumi himself might be able to break free, but Leo bets that suggesting as much would make Takumi spiral into self-doubt and despair. Which would, of course, worsen the effects of the curse. 

“Well, I have a lot of feelings,” says Takumi, threading his fingers through some knots in his hair.

Once again, Rose snorts.

“Start by telling me everything that annoyed or angered you,” says Leo, trying to keep his tone patient.

“You were pulling my hair on the way there,” starts Takumi with a shrug. “That was pretty annoying.”

Leo frowns, wondering if whatever twinge of hostility he engendered isn’t responsible for Takumi’s loss of control. “Why didn’t you say so?” 

“You were concentrating on your spell,” says Takumi, “so I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Right,” says Leo, then chooses to let it slide for the moment. “Then what?”

“I guess I got a little impatient,” admits Takumi, shrugging again without meeting Leo’s gaze. “You took a while to get the magic ready.”

What does the fool expect? For Leo to cast highly specialized and precise offensive spells on command? 

But it wouldn’t do to admonish Takumi right then and, considering Leo’s rotten luck, trigger the damned curse.

“Did you feel anything physical at the same time you got impatient?” asks Leo.

“Not really,” says Takumi. “Besides you pulling my hair.”

Leo’s eyes narrow. “Was I doing it constantly?”

“Yes,” says Takumi, reaching for the back of his head, near the spot where his ponytail usually sits. “I don’t know why you needed to pull like that.”

“I didn’t,” says Leo. He might have tugged once or twice when the wind startled him, but otherwise he’d taken care to be gentle. 

Takumi stares at him, eyes wide.

“Is your head hurting the same way now?” asks Takumi, forcing his muscles to stay relaxed. He’s leaning on Rose’s hind leg and if she feels him tense, she might startle and alert Takumi of his distress.

Above all, Leo needs Takumi to remain calm.

“N-no,” says Takumi. “It’s more in my forehead, behind my eyes.”

“Good,” says Leo. “The curse is not active right now.”

Takumi visibly sags. Leo’s fingers, the only part of him that had braced itself for an attack, relaxed as well. A gust of cold wind hits them, rustling the trees surrounding them. Leo tells himself to thread carefully, to stomp on his own anxieties about how tactless he can be. One way or another, he’ll have to pick at Takumi’s dark emotions until they crumble.

“Are you hungry?” asks Takumi.

“Hm?”

“I know magic is very draining,” says Takumi. “Sakura - my younger sister - eats enough food for three men after a day of healing.”

“I’m using my magic to grow our food,” Leo reminds him, proud that his tone is neutral.

“I can hunt now that we have a bow,” says Takumi.

As if Leo is just going to hand him a weapon, but first of all . . . “Hunt what?”

“I’ve seen rabbits around while you meditate,” says Takumi, then gestures at the sky. “A few seagulls, too. And if we go back to one of the streams, I bet I could fish.”

Leo has seen nothing but trees, skies, and the back of his own eyelids. It’s hardly reassuring. How much has he been relying on a man who might go mad and kill him at any moment? And to think that until now, he’d been more cautious of the pegasus.

“I want to help,” says Takumi earnestly. “I’ll feel less useless if I can help, and that would weaken the curse, wouldn’t it?”

“. . . Yes,” admits Leo.

Takumi smiles. “I promise I don’t feel the headache now. Just give me the bow and try to rest.”

It’s tempting, but Leo hasn’t even finished questioning Takumi about the workings of the curse. He could be acting according to its wishes right then. For all Leo knows, Takumi’s sudden eagerness to help him is a ploy.

“We’re out of tomatoes, right?” says Takumi. “And you must be out of energy. Just let me take care of you for a little bit. Please. I don’t want to be a burden.”

Leo can’t keep himself from taking a frustrated breath, closing his eyes. It’s hard to lift his eyelids back up, to force his eyes to withstand the shining brightness of the sun. He hears Takumi coming closer but does not have the energy to look and ready himself for a fight, instead telling himself that Rose doesn’t seem bothered. And that must mean . . . something.

“”Please,” repeats Takumi. “Let me help.”

“You trust me now?” says Leo, hating the whiny edge that creeps into his voice. “A few days ago, I was Nohrian scum.”

“But now you’re Leo.”

“I was Leo before.” Only a Hoshidan fool would consider that a placating statement.

But it is true that Leo can barely stay awake. He looks at Takumi and hands him the bow, certain that Takumi could easily take it by force anyway. Takumi beams at him. At least this way, he can lord the trusting gesture over Takumi’s head later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started this Wednesday night, then I had to drive a friend to the hospital due to food poisoning, an adventure that culminated with us watching [Dawn of Justice](http://www.dynamicallyopposed.com/2016/03/dawn-of-justice-i-dont-know-what-i.html).
> 
> Spoilers on my butthurt review of the movie.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have the beginnings of a plan, 10k words in. Lol.

“You’re not thinking ahead,” Xander tells him, index finger tapping on the white queen’s crown. 

Sunlight streams from the lone window at Xander’s office at Castle Krakenberg’s northern tower, forming shadows on Leo’s chessboard. His head aches all over around his temples and behind his eyes as it does when he’s overtaxed himself with Brynhildr. Xander’s painted him into a corner on the board, using a strategy that Leo’s certain he has been devising for at least a week. Has Xander gleaned the play from his sporadic games with Leo?

No. Xander has a head for statecraft and the composure necessary for leadership, but he is not the best chess player Leo has ever played. That honor goes to Niles. Leo squeezes his eyes shut and finds that he can’t keep track of his pieces. Where is his knight? And his king?

“You can’t keep going on thinking only of the next meal, the next pit stop, and the next ambush,” says Xander.

Leo’s trying, he really is, but it’s like the board has changed shape and no one bothered to explain the new rules to him. Is it really so bad that it’s taking him a while to find his feet?

“Yes,” says Xander. 

“Hey, wake up!” a voice calls out to him. “Leo?”

It’s the impatient neigh that startles him awake. He almost calls out for Xander, but Takumi’s worried gaze reminds him of where he is. 

“Are you alright?” 

“Fine,” says Leo, absently patting Rose’s hindleg. The scent of cooking meat wafts under his nose, and his belly claws at him. “Hungry.”

“Oh,” says Takumi, rushing to the fire and gesturing at his bounty. The bruise around his neck is well on its way to mottling. “Luck was on my side this morning; two rabbits, a seagull, and . . . some weird looking squirrel-deer hybrid thing we should probably eat last.”

Leo guesses that the largest chunks of meat by the fire came from the strange animal, though Takumi has cut it up into unrecognizable pieces. Weird animals wandering about add another mark on the column of clues nudging Leo towards a rather fantastical conclusion, but . . . 

“Why are you shirtless?” he asks Takumi.

“It got warm near the fire and I didn’t want to get blood on my kimono,” answers Takumi, completely lacking in self-consciousness as he he gestures at his shirt and coat neatly folded atop a large stone. “Oboro—one of my retainers, would lose it if I ruined my clothes. Come on, you need some protein.”

Well, he’s seen soldiers wearing less into a battlefield, and it’s not like Takumi doesn’t have the build to proudly go around half-naked. As opposed to Leo, who doesn’t have a single muscle to boast after surviving puberty. 

Leo starts with the rabbit, a bland piece of meat that nonetheless almost makes him cry reflexively when it touches his tongue. By now, the taste and texture of tomatoes will make him gag when offered to him beside almost anything else. Oily juice trails down his chin, but he doesn’t care. He hadn’t realized just how hungry growing the tomatoes has made him. Out the corner of his eye, he watches Takumi tightening the steel bow’s string, his triceps and biceps flexing as he frowns.

“Nothing like Fujin Yumi . . .” he mumbles.

Rose trots closer to him as he gorges himself and nudges his back. He grunts and continues eating, heedless of manners. 

“Leave him be,” says Takumi. “There’s all this grass around.”

Rose’s response is an irritated bray, but she does go away from Leo and starts munching on the lush grass, ending up even farther away from Takum. Strange, but Leo doesn’t know if it’s worth investigating further when he’s at a crossroads. As dream Xander said, he’s not thinking ahead. 

“I’ve been thinking,” says Takumi, interrupting Leo’s silent meal. “We’re going in the wrong direction.”

“Hm?” Leo reaches for what he assumes is the seagull. 

“We’ve been keeping close to the ground when we fly,” says Takumi, sliding a bit closer to Leo. “And it’s like we’re going in a circle even though I’ve been trying really hard not to double back.”

A disorientation spell? Iago has babbled about illusions that could trick entire armies into marching straight into traps, but again . . . delusional. Nothing has that kind of raw power.

“And every once in awhile,” continues Takumi, “I think I see a mountain up in the sky.”

“Probably mountain peaks,” says Leo in between bites of meat.

“That’s what I thought at first,” says Takumi, “but then why haven’t we gotten any closer to any of these ‘mountains’? I’ve been leading Rose in their direction.” 

He makes little air-quotes, except he flexes his fingers a few too many times, like he’s not used to apostrophes, much less to gestures born from them. Which he wouldn’t be, as a Hoshidan. Leo frowns at himself for finding the gesture cute, and for wondering what—or who —taught it to Takumi.

“So, why not?” insists Takumi.

“I don’t know,” admits Leo. If they are in another world, then who’s to say that mountains and skies don’t work differently? That vision itself doesn’t work differently?

“I think it’s not mountains,” says Takumi. “I think they’re islets in the sky.”

Leo stares at him until his cheeks glow pink and his naked shoulder hunch in on themselves. 

“It sounds crazy, I know,” says Takumi, “but I have excellent vision and I know what I’m seeing. It’s like the bottom part of a seedling when you pull it out of a gardening pot. Except gigantic, and floating in the sky.”

“That does sound mad,” says Leo, glancing over at the leftover meat. Unlike the rabbits and seagull, it’s tinted slightly . . . purple. It does not look appetizing, but his belly is still hollow.

“I’ll try it first,” says Takumi, standing up.

“Wait,” says Leo, frowning. The last thing they need is to poison themselves. “You seen wolves around?”

“Sure.” Takumi shrugs. “It’s been easy enough to avoid them.”

“Then drop this off a mile or so away, and we’ll go see if it got scavenged sometime tomorrow.”

“That’ll tell us if it’s safe to eat?” 

“It’ll tell us if it’s edible, at least,” says Leo.

“Nah, waste of time,” says Takumi, cutting off a slice of purplish meat with the dagger Leo had completely forgotten about until that instant. “It tastes pretty good, actually.”

Leo’s stomach growls, but he refuses to touch the stuff until he’s certain it won’t kill him. If Takumi wants to take dumb risks, that’s his prerogative.

“How far above us are these ‘islets in the sky’?” asks Leo, making sure to use proper air-quotes. 

“I’m not sure,” admits Takumi, then starts licking his fingers. Honestly, isn’t he supposed to be a prince? “I don’t think we should just fly up until Rose is so exhausted she falls right out of the sky. Let’s start by going above the clouds, and see what happens.”

Leo sighs. It’s moving forward, which they haven’t managed to do since landing beside that forsaken stream. 

“Alright, let’s try it.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never flown through a cloud, so I had to extrapolate a little bit. On the bright side, I know how this will end after 10k+ words of messing around.

“Before we try this,” says Leo, “we need to discuss what to do if you lose control again.”

“Just take me down,” says Takumi as he fixes his clothes. Though he sounds confident, he avoids Leo’s gaze.

“I would; don’t you worry about it,” says Leo. “But only after exhausting all other options.”

Takumi sighs, shooting Leo a sidelong glance. “Would you feel better if I gave you back the bow?”

On some level, Leo would. But he’s not a frontline fighter and never has been. He’s no Effie, ready and able to plant herself in front of an ambush. Or Xander, who radiates so much power ambushes see him and turn tail. Leo feels much more confident when there are fighters around him giving him a chance to concentrate on his magic.

“Take the sword instead,” he says, walking forward to offer Takumi the hilt of the katana. “I would feel best of all if I didn’t have to worry about you at my back.”

Takumi stares at the sword and, for some reason Leo can’t fathom, blushes pink. “I’m no good with the sword at all,” he says, taking a small step back. “Ryoma would probably cry if saw my footwork.”

“Prince Ryoma is not here, is he?” Leo stretches his arm so the hilt is under Takumi’s nose. “Take it. You should only go hunting with the bow for now.”

Takumi sighs, then relents. His fingers brush Leo’s as they exchange the bow for the katana, and for a moment Leo’s afraid that _he’s_ the one blushing like a moron. He’s grateful that Takumi is looking anywhere but him. It’s probably an empty precaution to arm him with a sword rather than a bow, but it makes Leo feel a little better anyway, and thus would make casting spells a lot easier.

“If you feel that headache from last time, shout for me.”

“Your name?” says Takumi, walking towards Rose.

“No, you might need to yell my name for too many other reasons,” says Leo, following him. “Yell ‘red’.”

“And then what?” Takumi mounts Rose, completely unhindered by the wings that Leo has not yet gotten quite used to. He'd made Takumi teach him the commands Rose would response to while flying earlier during the day, but he has zero confidence in his ability to lead the pegasus on a upward trip through clouds.

“I’ll think of something,” says Leo, getting on behind Takumi, frowning at the wisps of hair scratching his chin.

“That’s not the best plan I’ve ever heard,” says Takumi.

It’s barely even a plan. “Just go,” says Leo.

Leo means to keep a loose hold on Takumi’s shoulders, but he feels as though he might slide off Rose when she starts flying at a steep angle, so his arms end up clamped around Takumi's torso. Once Rose pierces the first cloud, mist seeds on Leo’s cheeks, making him want to scratch his face. It’s as though they’ve entered a steaming hot spring, except the air is chilled and there is lightning flashing and thunder exploding distressingly close to Leo's ears. A neigh reaches Leo in between bursts of thunder, but Rose’s upward climb continues. Takumi’s shoulders are tense, but he must be confident enough that Rose isn’t spooked by the noise and the wet air.

Finally, Rose pierces the other end of the cloud. Leo open his eyes, realizing at that very moment that he’d closed them, and gasps. Takumi pulls on the reins and Rose dives, barely missing a giant slab of earth floating over the cloud.

Rose flies in a straight line, between the boiling cloud and the solid ground and stone, then veers to the left. Leo grips Takumi’s robes until bright sunlight hits his eyes.

“I _knew_ it!” says Takumi, laughing with infectious joy as Rose glides in a nest of clear skies.

Around them, a cluster of floating islets lay motionless in the empty space between large, grey clouds. Leo blinks, scarcely believing it despite what he sees, and barely remembers to breathe.

“Come on, Rose!” Takumi nudges the pegasus towards one of the smallest islets. “You deserve a break after that.”

Except for the fact that it’s _floating in the sky_ , the islet holds a grove that might have been lifted straight from any of the many spots where Leo and Takumi have been resting over the last several days. The grass is the same beneath Leo’s feet, the water from the tiny pond gleaming as pristine as the water on the ground, the wind equally as chilled as it hits his face. 

_The end of what?_ Leo doesn’t ask.

Behind the small pond lies a tall stone slab—taller than the islet is wide—adorned with the glyphs to summon Faceless.

“Brace yourself,” says Leo an instant before the glyph starts glowing with purple magic.

“We could just hop back onto Rose,” says Takumi as the bloated body of a tall Faceless begins to materialize before the stone slab.

Leo shakes his head. It shouldn’t be too difficult to deal with a handful of Faceless if they know where exactly the beasts are coming from. “Let’s try and destroy the glyph,” he says. “I want to examine it.”

“Right,” says Takumi, taking a step forward to stand in front of Leo.

“Your head?” asks Leo.

“I’m fine,” says Takumi. “One or two Faceless won’t be too much of a problem for me. You destroy that stone before there’s so many I’m overwhelmed.”

“Yes, hurry,” says Leo. “Stand right in front of the slab; a new Faceless shouldn’t appear if you’re in the way.”

“Leo,” starts Takumi.

“Go! The glyph is glowing again.”

“If it looks like I’m not gonna make it, you have to take Rose and go,” says Takumi without turning around to face him. “You have to get home and tell both our kingdom’s about this.”

“Yes, just go!” The Faceless is shambling towards them, letting out pained moans that want to be threatening growls. Soon, a second one will follow.

Leo takes a deep breath as Takumi rushes to meet the Faceless, and focuses on the summoning glyph.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is another short one, but it felt like a good spot to finish.

Despite Takumi’s previous reservations, he’s quick enough with the katana. As Leo narrows his eyes at the glyph stone, Takumi plunges the sword into the monster’s belly. Pungent stink hits Leo’s nose. He spares a moment to mentally wince for Takumi—he’s standing just under the accursed beast’s abdomen—and unleashes Brynhildr around the glyph.

No vines this time, just rough roots that make up a thorny bush. Rose neighs as they sprout through the slab, thick purple magic wrapping around them. Leo pours more magic into them, momentarily blocking out the sounds of Takumi battling the Faceless. Another monster is rising from the seal, growling or moaning, Leo cannot tell. As he forces Brynhildr to pierce through the protective dark magic shrouding the glyph, Takumi rushes to the new Faceless and plunges the katana through its mask.

A garbled scream pierces the air, then Brynhildr sprouts free. Gravel flies in all direction, making Rose jump aside. The Faceless vanishes in a purple cloud, leaving Takumi in an offensive stance against air.

“Done!” yells Takumi, sheathing the katana and turning to Leo, bright smile ready. “Today’s our day.”

“It would seem,” says Leo, walking forward.

Takumi knows better than to interrupt as Leo glares at the spot where the stone used to be. 

Magic simmers under the surface, but unfocused and already dissipating into the elements around it. It goes quicker than Leo would like, but not so quick that Leo can’t guess where its master is coming from. He also senses other exits clustered around them, probably on the other floating islets.

“It’s below us,” he says. “Way below us. We’ve been on a floating island the entire time.”

“You think we should fly down?” asks Takumi. 

“No.” By themselves, with Takumi still cursed, it would be suicide. Besides . . . “I wouldn’t trust me to guide us through, anyway.”

“That Nohrian prince,” says Takumi, “the one whose name is also Leo, he’s supposed to be some legendary mage. Right?”

Leo has to hold back a bout of hysterical laughter. “In the mood for Nohrian alliances, are we?”

“Well, this summoning business is a foul Nohrian trick,” says Takumi, cheerfully rude. “The Nohrian royals would believe you, right? You said Xander is your master.”

“Lord Xander would believe me,” agrees Leo, still not looking directly at Takumi. It occurs to him that there’s no obvious reason left to conceal his identity.

But one does not last long in Nohr without learning to hoard secrets.’

“How much farther can we push Rose?” he asks.

“She’s fine with the islands this close together,” says Takumi. “I’m more worried about us if every stop is gonna have one of these summoning thingies.” 

Leo looks towards Rose, who’s peacefully munching on verdant grass. Then he looks up at the sky, searching among the sky islands. “There,” he says, pointing towards a cluster in the eastern sky. “I sensed no portals in that area.”

“Good, good,” says Takumi. “At least now we know we should be going up in the first place.”

“Do we?”

“If whoever’s sending these things is down below . . .” Takumi shrugs, then heads towards Rose. “I have a good feeling about the skies. Let’s go.” 

It should be comfortable to ride the pegasus with Takumi, but it seems Leo’s crush is not going anywhere anytime soon. He takes refuge in Takumi’s apparent obliviousness as they hop from floating island to floating island, sparing as little time as possible so Leo can search for other summoning glyphs.

As they rise, the sky dims to a drab grey too suffocating to be called a night sky. The chill got more pronounced, which Leo doesn’t consciously realize until his arms tighten around Takumi’s waist. He blushes, thankful that Takumi can’t see his face.

“You think we should rest for the night?” asks Takumi.

“You’re the one who knows the pegasus,” says Leo, looking above them. There are no more islands on sight, just murky clouds and the occasional flash of lightning. Rose’s wings flap, perhaps with less enthusiasm than usual.

Takumi sighs, looking around so quickly that his ponytail hits Leo’s face. There’s one islet close to them, small and with no obvious summoning glyphs. 

“The top is close; I can _feel_ it,” mumbles Takumi. “Let me fly up a little more. I’ll double back if we don’t see anything in five minutes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [New FE post](http://www.dynamicallyopposed.com/2016/04/fire-emblem-fates-is-offended-that-you.html) at my blog.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So . . . I'm ignoring that whole "you can't talk about Valla or you'll die" thing from the game. Because I think it's mad dumb. Let's call this more of an AU, or something.

With a deadline hanging over them, Leo can’t help but imagine that Rose’s wings beat more frantically. The wind chills, burns his cheeks and the tip of his nose, and he almost buries his face in Takumi’s neck before he gets a hold of himself. Rose flies between two long columns of earth that seem to go on forever in parallel lines. Above them, the sky grows grayer and thicker, as though they’re approaching the surface of a misty lake. 

“We should turn back!” yells Leo.

“No, I know where we are!” shouts Takumi.

Then Rose neighs, her wings beat harder, and they cross rise above the earth border. Takumi grips the reins, guiding Rose to the frosted earth before Leo can register where they’ve landed. 

“It’s the Bottomless Canyon,” he says as Rose’s wings fold. “Um . . .”

Leo realizes that he still has his arms wrapped around Takumi’s waist. He relaxes, proud that he manages not to jump back like some flustered debutante, and slides off Rose. The canyon edge is still too close; he wants to get as far away from the place as possible.

“I wonder if we’re closer to Hoshido or Nohr,” says Takumi. 

“Nohr,” says Leo. 

The ever-present scent of copper and iron that salts the soil all over his kingdom prickles his nose. Still, the one fortress in the Bottomless Canyon is under Hoshidan control, so he must be more cautious than usual. Corrin might have talked Hinoka, Elise, and Sakura into some hare-brained Nohrian-Hoshidan “alliance” (and Leo himself, he hates to admit), but it’s all child’s play until Xander and Ryoma are one board.

He watches Rose chewing on a grass shrub that defeated the arid terrain and merciless cold, and smiles when she spits it back out and neighs in frustration. Nothing like the vibrant grass of that strange world, he bets. 

“Well,” says Takumi. He looks down at the ground and grinds his boot against the gravel. What he has to be so shy about all of a sudden, Leo can only guess. “I want you to come with me to Hoshido.”

That’s the last thing Leo would have expected. No wonder Takumi doesn’t meet his eyes.

“I can promise you my brother will hear you out if I vouch for you,” says Takumi. “You’re welcome to stay with us, like Azura, or just go later if you want. We won’t hold you hostage, but you can be happy in Hoshido.”

“You’re asking me to betray my kingdom.”

“No!” Takumi looks up, then goes on to have a staring contest with the ground, then looks back up at Leo with pink cheeks. “We wouldn't ask anything about Nohr, I promise. But that . . . place,” he gestures to the canyon, “that’s nothing to do with Nohr, and you’ve seen it with me. You can help us take them down.”

“You think your family won’t believe you?” Leo could bring up the unresolved curse, but he wants to see if Takumi will do it first.

“It’s not that that,” says Takumi, shaking his head. “It’s about the magic. You’ll know to talk with the onmyoji and diviners much better than me.”

Leo smirks. “You’re the one that called it foul Nohrian sorcery or some such. Wouldn’t we have better luck with Nohrian sages and sorcerers? You come with me to Nohr.”

“There’s no need to be unreasonable,” says Takumi, crossing his arms over his chest. “The Nohrian royal house wouldn’t let me go; they couldn’t. I’m a prince.”

Leo can’t suppress a chuckle. It’s not like he can blame Takumi for not deducing that Leo is _the_ Leo, that Nohrian mage with quite the reputation, it seems. The Hoshidan royal house couldn’t just let him go either. 

Well, he _can_ blame Takumi, since it’s not like he’s gone through great lengths to conceal his identity. Perhaps that’s why Takumi doesn’t suspect the truth. Leo’s hiding in plain sight.

“What’s so funny?” demands Takumi. 

“Nothing, nothing.” Leo waves a hand. “I just never thought I’d have to refuse Hoshidan hospitality.”

“Hmph.”

Leo covers his mouth with his hand, half-expecting Takumi to stomp his foot. He can’t believe they’re close to the same age. 

“Fine, then,” says Takumi, walking towards Rose. “You wanna part ways right away?"

“Come now,” says Leo, “at least drop me off near a village if you’re so grateful. You know I can’t just walk out of this tundra.”

“Rose needs a break,” says Takumi, patting between the pegasus’ ears. She nuzzles him, unconcerned with his prickly ponytail. “You’ll have to wait until tomorrow at least if you want a ride.”

“We’re sitting ducks here, you know?” The sun never quite breaks through the clouds in the Bottomless Canyon, but it won’t take a bowman to catch Rose’s gleaming hide. Wyvern riders brave these skies often to deliver messages from Nohrian spies. “Let me guide you to a Nohrian safehouse.”

“Like I’d be safe in a den of Nohrian scum spies.”

Leo can’t believe Takumi offered him sanctuary just a minute ago. “It’s not like I’d announce your true identity to the four winds.” Or his own for that matter. Iago is always waiting for the flimsiest shred of evidence that any of Garon’s children has turned traitor.

“Sure,” says Takumi with a sniff. “And if it comes out anyway, I’d be dead in a blink. Or worse; I’d be another pawn for Nohr’s conquests.”

“And what of your curse?” demands Leo. He can’t just let Takumi wander off to murder Corrin. Takumi must agree to stay with him, or . . .

“I’ll figure it out,” says Takumi, shrugging. “There are plenty of mages in Hoshido, and they know all about spirits. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll visit neutral royals with knowledge of the arcane, like Archduke Izana.”

“Listen to me,” says Leo, taking a step forward. “There are Nohrian mages who’ve spent a lifetime studying the human spirit. You’ve seen the Faceless —”

“Is that supposed to reassure me?” Takumi glares at him.

Leo sighs and swallows a few choice insults. “Fine. I’ll go with you to Hoshido.”

“What? Really?”

“Yes,” says Leo, taking what little satisfaction he can from Takumi’s stunned expression. “I promise I would cure you of this curse, and I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New [FE post](http://www.dynamicallyopposed.com/2016/04/which-one-would-you-go-for-animated-t.html) at my blog, btw.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings at the endnotes for this chapter.

They go on walking, Leo following Takumi for some miles, ordering himself to trust his companion’s sight. Takumi swears that he recognizes subtle differences in the horizons that let him know which way will take them to Hoshido. It sounds like nonsense to Leo, but it’s not like he has better alternatives. He remembers the dream game of chess he lost to Xander, and his anxiety bubbles over. He needs a plan, but he can only think of what he would do if he was back at Court. 

Takumi stops for a instant, then rushes forward, a little to the east. The stink reaches Leo’s nose before he catches sight of what drew Takumi’s attention. A trio of bodies lies on the gravel a few feet ahead of them, wrapped in dark clothes that mark them as Nohrian. Rose stops a paces away, neighing in what Leo assumes is disgust.

“What happened here?” breathes Takumi, cautiously walking closer, gaze fixed on the arrow sticking from one of the corpses’ back.

Bandits, fight gone wrong, Faceless. Some combination of all three. Leo’s eyes fall on a dead sorcerer clutching a Fire tome. He bends down for it, then snorts when Takumi makes some scandalized noise.

“Never had to search loot a rotting corpse, have you?” Leo laughs, nevermind that he feels no humor towards the dead sorcerer’s swollen cheeks. Skin has already started slipping off the bloating muscles and tissue. “Silly Hoshidan princeling.”

“That’s your fellow countryman down there,” says Takumi.

“It was,” says Leo, levitating a dark smudge off the tome’s edge. “Now it’s meat, bones, and maggots.” He’s a little surprised the corpses are rotting at all, considering how cold he feels. Perhaps being away from home is making him soft. “At least we’ll have heat now,” he says as he straightens, waving the Fire tome in Takumi’s direction.

“No need to risk getting seen by Nohrian wyvern riders just yet,” says Takumi, rushing towards Rose. “Five more miles or so, and we’ll be under Hoshidan forest.”

“You’re sure?” says Leo, looking towards the horizon. With the night almost upon them, it’s even harder to tell if the far-off smudges are trees, or the boulder peaks. 

“Can I just get the bow?” asks Takumi as he mounts Rose. “I wanna fly the rest of the way there, and I’d feel much better about maybe running into wyvern riders if I was properly armed.”

“And the curse?” says Leo, heading for his spot at Takumi’s back.

“I feel better the farther I get from that place,” says Takumi. “Or maybe the closer I get to home, I don’t know. I just feel better.”

Rose moves her wing to give Leo room. Not wanting to damage the comfortable air around them, Leo forces himself to use Takumi’s shoulder for leverage as though it’s nothing. Unbidden, he thinks about how easy it would be to murder Takumi now that he seems to trust Leo to such absurd degrees.

“Here,” he says, handing Takumi the steel bow. They’re dealing with a curse that takes advantage of negative emotions, and Takumi seems to like him well enough.

“I always wondered why Nohrian archers don’t ever learn to fly a wyvern,” says Takumi, reaching for Rose’s reins.

Because wyverns are much harder to control than pegasi, and they will not hover patiently while an archer aims an arrow. Not that Leo is about to volunteer that bit of information to someone who will one day lead armies against Nohrian flying battalions. 

Despite it all, Leo’s still not used to the sudden loss of control that overcomes him in the instant Rose’s hooves leave the ground. He uses Takumi’s shoulders for balance, frowning when a freezing droplet of water hits his nose.

“Great, now it’s raining,” says Takumi, almost shouting so that Leo can hear him over the wind rushing past their ears.

At least it doesn’t progress to a full blown storm before they reach the edge of the forest. They don’t even run into wyverns, though it’s not surprising since Takumi swears they’re close to Hoshido. Rose lands a handful of paces away from the forest border, neighing and snorting as though she wants to sneeze. With their luck, they might have an ill mount by morning.

“I know, I know,” murmurs Takumi as Leo dismounts, running his fingers through Rose’s mane. “You’re hungry and tired. I promise you’ll get the greenest patch of grass when we make it back to the palace.”

Leo runs through all the Hoshidan maps he’s ever analyzed, trying to work out where exactly Takumi is planning to go. The nearest Hoshidan village to the Nohrian border used to be a hub of linen and clothing merchants, at least until Garon ordered it destroyed to send Hoshido a ‘message’ about a decade ago. He’d wanted every Hoshidan merchant murdered, and later sent assassins for any that might have been away from the town during the attack. Leo accepted that his father is mad that day.

“Niseko should be about ten miles south, past this forest,” says Takumi as they approach the woods. “One of my retainers is from there . . . well, _was._ ” 

Leo feels judging eyes on him, but he has nothing to say that won’t sound like empty apologies. He’s not so sorry for Garon’s brutality that he would betray his family. Not yet, not ever. Hopefully. He sighs and looks around, hoping that Takumi will drop the subject if he seems busy taking in their surroundings. The forest floor is naked of weeds and shrubs, and the canopy sparse enough that Leo worries about wyverns spotting them. He knows that if he tries to grow tomatoes, the soil will not yield the same bounty as the soil from that other world.

”There’s not much of a town left, but royal ninja still use the larger buildings. We can come up with a better plan there,” continues Takumi. “I need to retrieve Fujin Yumi.”

“Retrieve it from your own sister?”

“Hinoka’s obviously been tricked by that _traitor,_ ” spits Takumi. “If I can just talk to her, she’ll see.”

“Takumi,” says Leo, then forces himself not to relax when Takumi seems startled by his own name. He needs a better strategy than hoping for Takumi to be strong enough to resist the curse. “You’re cursed. You tried to kill Hinoka.”

“I . . .”

“You need to calm down,” says Leo. He considers asking Takumi for the bow and the sword, but he doesn’t want to risk spooking him.

Takumi breathes and Rose steps closer to nuzzle his hair. A good sign, Leo decides. Rose had stayed away from him for almost an entire day the last time the curse took him over.

“Let’s set camp for the night,” says Leo. “I need to get to my daily meditating.”

“Yeah,” says Takumi. “I’ll see if I can hunt some game in the meantime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leo and Takumi find a trio of dead and rotting Nohrian soldiers. Their bodies are described in vague details and Leo steals a tome from one of the corpses.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know when you have sort of a plan, and then you get another one in the middle of writing and you're like . . . yeah, this is better.

Prior to the misadventures in the strange world, Leo would have considered the Hoshidan border forest plentiful. Takumi has no trouble hunting three times a day, there’s no difficulty finding firewood, and there’s a river on the way to Niseko. But there’s little grass for Rose, nothing but skinny rabbits for food, and it’s more humid than cold. Leo tries to grow tomatoes on the second day of their trip, but he knows that the attempt will be a waste a few minutes into it.

“Why didn’t we just stay back and interrogate someone from there?” complains Takumi as he licks a rabbit bone clean. 

“We tried,” Leo reminds him. “You killed the soldiers we captured.”

“Hmph.” He mumbles something to himself, and Leo doesn’t care enough to press him on the issue. The curse still weighs on his mind. They must visit Izana.

Rose is sitting behind him, snorting occasionally. Leo still suspects she might have some kind of pegasus cold, but Takumi assures him that she’s only bored and hungry.

“I wish I had Fujin Yumi,” says Takumi, for the millionth time since they arrived at the forest. “I don’t know how I’m going to convince the ninja at Niseko that I’m their prince.”

“There cannot be many Hoshidan men who look like you,” says Leo. Then he looks away to brace himself for Takumi’s teasing.

“You mean my hair?” says Takumi, not picking up on Leo’s misstep. Somehow. “It’s not as uncommon as you might think. Mother used to say that it’s white because I’m touched by the blood of dragons much more than my siblings, but that was her humoring me. Ryoma is practically a dragon in the flesh, and his hair’s just black.”

Leo would say that Corrin has white hair as well, but her mere name seems to be enough to trigger the curse. He keeps the jab to himself. 

“Nevertheless, you are Hoshidan.”

“Yeah, and I’m out and about with some Nohrian mage,” says Takumi. “The ninja will be suspicious, no way around it.”

“They’ll believe one of their countrymen capable of defecting to _Nohr?_ ” says Leo, adopting an air of exaggerated incredulity.

“Why wouldn’t they?” frowns Takumi, perhaps catching Leo’s sarcasm. “Not everyone in Hoshido is pure and honest.”

“Just like not everyone in Nohr is scum?”

“Well, yeah,” says Takumi, grunting as though Leo is the unreasonable one. “ _You’re_ from Nohr, first of all.”

Leo can’t do more than stare at him as he sits by the fire with hunched shoulders and a dejected mood hanging about him like a dark cloud. Can a conversation be called banter when only one partner seems to be aware of the subtext in it? For a moment, he considers that Takumi is only _acting_ as though he takes Leo’s words at face value, and his oblivious responses are as practiced as Leo’s barbs are obvious.

“But you’re right,” says Takumi, sighing. “I have no choice but to go to them, tell my story, and hope for the best.”

Next morning, Takumi cajoles Rose into letting them take another ride with promises that they’re almost at their destination, where she will be rewarded with more grass and hay than she could possibly dream of. She snorts and refuses his attempts to pet her, but ultimately lets them mount her. Leo’s probably imagining things, but her take-off is slower, and she doesn’t reach her usual height in the sky. It’s hard to say with the clouds looking so drab.

He loses track of time, burrowing as close as he can to Takumi’s back in search for heat. For reasons Leo cannot guess, Takumi seems unbothered by the closeness. Why not take advantage of it?

“Almost there!” Takumi yells about an hour later, struggling to be heard over the wind.

Leo shrugs. His eyes are too dry to open for long, and he doubts he’d see anything but smudges anyway. After this is over, he will avoid pegasi and wyvern and the skies until his dying days. 

Rose veers to the left, prompting him to tighten his hold around Takumi’s waist. He’ll never get used to sudden movements while flying. 

“You’re sure they won’t shoot us down?”

“No, Nohrians almost never fly pegasi.”

Moments later, Leo’s belly sinks as Rose dives down. The anxiety passes long before her hooves touch the ground, another sign that Leo is growing too accustomed to these Hoshidan adventures. He opens his eyes once Rose stops, neighing loudly to signal their arrival. They’re before a mansion, an elegant one, but too small and undefended to be a proper military post. There are signs that the home has been recently repaired—the southern wall seems newer than the eastern one, and patch of the roof is bricked with clay of a different color. Repairs after a battle, perhaps?

A pair of darkly-dressed ninja with graying hair and glum expressions approaches them. Undoubtedly, there are bowmen stationed atop the fence. Takumi takes a nervous breath and gestures at Leo to dismount. If the ninja notice that he’s dressed in obviously-Nohrian garb, they do not comment on it. 

“I need to speak to the master at this keep,” says Takumi as he dismounts.

Leo gives him credit for injecting some confidence into his voice. He sounds worlds away from the whiny child he’s been during most of their trip.

“Who wants to see her?” booms one of the ninja.

“Prince Takumi, of Hoshido.”

The ninja a step behind the one who spoke twitches. The one in front is as still as a statue. Leo’s bracing himself for a fight before the ninja even opens his mouth.

“Prince Takumi is dead,” says the ninja. “As you will be once Lord Ryoma hears that you’ve been using his name.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update took longer than most, but it's also the longest chapter in a while, so yay?

“What!” yelled Takumi, the princely air melting off him like butter in a steaming pot. “No, I’m not!”

The older ninja gestures at the other, who moves towards Takumi.

“Don’t fight,” says Leo when he sees Takumi’s hand twitch towards the katana. Or maybe the bow. Takumi stills, but still wrenches away when the ninja tries to grab a hold of him. The older ninja whistles, and a warning arrow lands in front of them, an inch from Takumi’s feet. Rose neighs and flaps her wings.

“Surrender your weapons, or die,” says the older ninja.

“Do it; they’ll not hear us out otherwise,” says Leo, wishing he could whisper to Takumi without drawing attention to himself. 

Leo expects that he’ll be handled more roughly than Takumi, being Nohrian and all, but the ninja seem ready to crucify Takumi for daring to . . . speak their prince’s name in vain? They take the Takumi’s weapons and push him to his knees, and the older ninja grabs Takumi’s ponytail and snorts, as though he’s examining a cheap knock-off wig at a charlatan’s stand in a market. Rose snorts angrily, but she makes no move to attack the ninja.

“It’s not a wig,” snaps Takumi.

The ninja practically throws the ponytail in Takumi’s face, then turns to Leo. “Your weapons.”

Leo hands over the stolen Fire tome, hoping that they will assume it’s his only weapon, but when is he ever that lucky? The man searches him, somewhat less roughly than the other ninja is searching Takumi.

“That’s just a book,” Leo says when the man feels Brynhildr in his breast pocket.

The ninja glares and rips Brynhildr out. Leo frowns, his fingers twitching, but forces himself not to reach out like a bereft child. The ninja’s eyes narrow as he flips examines Brynhildr’s cover, then he flips through the pages. 

“Haven’t seen one like this before,” he grumbles.

“He said it’s just a book!” says Takumi. The other ninja slaps him for his trouble.

Rose raises her front legs, ready to defend her master, but neighs fearfully and rears backwards as a couple of arrows _whoosh_ frightfully close to her wings. She snorts, but doesn’t make another attempt to defend Takumi. Leo tries not to hold it against her, but they would have had to kill her, had she been a wyvern. And it wouldn’t have helped any.

Two more ninja join them after Rose’s outburst, including a woman who goes to her side and shushes her while the rest continue to search Leo and Takumi. The older ninja who appears to be leading them continues to riffle through Brynhildr’s pages with furrowed eyebrows. Leo had not felt as violated when the man felt him up through his clothes.

“Why are you breaking your brain over that thing?” one of the ninja holding Takumi asks. “We’ll ask Myrrha what it’s about.”

Myrrha?

“We need a Dragon Vein,” says Leo. 

The older ninja turns to him, eyes narrowed. One of the one searching Takumi snorts.

“Please,” says Takumi. “A healing one. I’ll activate it.”

No one listens to them. Takumi tries to insist, and gets backhanded for his trouble. His eyes catch Leo’s, and Leo shakes his head. Something is deeply unsettling about the entire situation. Better not to talk too much until they know what it is.

The place doesn’t have anything that passes for proper dungeons, so Leo ends up in a narrow room with a lumpy bed that used to belong to a servant. He assumes. There’s only a small square of a window lending the drab area a pittance of what little sunlight cuts through the gray clouds. The ninja guarding his door tossed him a thin blanket before locking him in, proving that Hoshidans are, indeed, much kinder jailers than Nohrians. 

Takumi’s probably in a similar room, or so Leo hopes. The Hoshidans seemed brutally offended by his insistence that he’s their dead prince, so much so that they didn’t even remark on Leo’s nationality. Not even to argue that their precious prince would be caught dead—no pun intended—than travel around with some Nohrian.

They give him a bowl of thick shrimp soup at some point, richer than some meals Leo has been offered during visits to struggling Nohrian villages. He tries not to waste any brainpower being bitter about that, and instead eats with gusto, determined to hoard as much strength as possible for any opportunity to escape. With Takumi, preferably, but . . . Leo must recognize, at some point, that he’s gaining nothing by staying by Takumi’s side. He has no idea how to break the curse, still. 

He tries to sleep and manages only fitful naps where eyes follow him everywhere, asking him questions that Leo has no answer for. At one point, he has a strange dream about Camilla riding Rose, laughing about how cute the pegasus is as she promises to crush anyone who’s dared to lay a hand on him. The thin blanket does little to shield him for the chilled breeze streaming through the narrow window, and he yearns for the warmth of Takumi’s back. 

Morning greets him with a headache that squeezes his temples like a vice. His throat is raw and his mouth dry; signs of a mere cold, or so Leo hopes. He scrambles to a sitting position when the lock to his door rattles. Never before has he felt less ready for a fight, literal or political.

It’s breakfast. Warm bread, some beans that Leo assumes are a staple of Hoshido, and even a slice of sausage. A Hoshidan prisoner is treated better than some “guests” at Castle Krakenburg. He hopes that Takumi is being treated equally well. 

Leo thanks the ninja who serves him, then wolfs the food down without a care for manners. A Nohrian dark mage—a woman with long blond curls that Leo has never met—enters the room while he eats, but Leo glances at her and continues chewing. From her appearance alone, Leo would not peg her as half-Hoshidan/half-Nohrian. That’s not why she’s with the ninja.

Speaking of, the ninja who brought him breakfast remains in the room, guarding the woman, or perhaps just to listen to the exchange. Or both. 

“You have quite the interesting tome with you,” says the mage. 

“Myrrha, I presume,” says Leo. “How does a Nohrian mage find herself working with Hoshidan ninja?”

“How does a Nohrian mage find himself travelling with a Hoshidan prince?” 

“Touche,” says Leo, then returns to his breakfast.

“He calls you Leo,” says the mage.

“That’s my name,” shrugs Leo. 

The mage chuckles, then saunters closer to him. She slips a finger under his chin and forces him to look into her dark green eyes. “They went through the trouble to find quite attractive impersonators this time.”

Impersonators? “You know what my book is.”

She lets go of his chin, and Leo struggles not to scratch, unwilling to show how unsettled he feels. 

“I want a moment alone with this one,” says Myrrha.

“You’re sure?” asks the ninja.

“He’s unarmed,” says Myrrha, leaning closer to the ninja. “Stay right outside if you must, but I believe I’ll have better luck with some privacy.”

There’s no real privacy with a Hoshidan ninja a door away, but the less people in the room, the better for Leo.

“Unlike your companion,” the mage starts, stepping closer to the bed and shoving Leo’s tray to the floor, “you seem to have some wits about you, and you’re quite young. Lord Xander might be persuaded to show mercy if you tell us who sent you, and how they got their hands on Brynhildr.” 

She stands over him, bracing her arms on his sides in an attempt to crowd him. As far as intimidation tactics go, Leo gives it a D for effort. “What prove do you have that Prince Takumi has died?”

“Me?” She smirks. “None but King Ryoma’s word that he slayed his brother after a Vallite curse overcame him.”

What? Who? 

“No,” says Leo, shaking his head without meaning to. “If you’ve recognized Brynhildr, then you must know who I am, and I can vouch that my companion is telling the truth. Lead him to a Dragon Vein—”

Myrrha snorts. “As if Garon didn’t pepper the world with bastards brimming with Dragon Blood.”

Yes, Garon had numerous bastards, but one who might impersonate Prince Takumi of Hoshido? Absurd. 

“Then lend me Brynhildr,” says Leo. “I am the only who can wield it. Or has Prince Leo of Nohr also been declared dead?”

“Yes,” says Myrrha. “Takumi murdered him.”


	18. Chapter 18

Leo laughs.

He means to keep it short and mocking, but the sound bubbles out of him like water boiling over a cooking pot that’s been left on the stove for too long. He’s a prisoner of Hoshido with Prince Takumi (who’s presumed dead and doesn’t know his true identity), and a Nohrian mage who appears to work for ninja in service to the Hoshidan crown is telling him that he is _also_ presumed dead. Leo can’t help but wonder if he’s gone mad.

“It’s hardly imposing to pretend at madness when you’re so powerless,” says Myrrha. But she rears back from Leo, her shoulders slightly hunched, and a worried frown mars her sculpted eyebrows.

Leo breathes, letting the wheeze past his lips loudly. “My apologies,” he says, waving a hand. “It’s been a trying few weeks.”

“Weeks.” Myrrha doesn’t quite make it a question.

Bordering on amused, Leo raises an eyebrow.

“Leo and Takumi died five years ago.”

“Of course they did,” says Leo. The laughter helped, much like sobbing is sometimes cathartic. Her earlier words become sharper. _King Ryoma’s word_ , not _Prince Ryoma’s._

“Just before the beginning of the war with Valla, the Invisible Kingdom,” says Myrrha.

“Invisible?” Leo stands to pace around the small room. Myrrha has already seen him hysterical; there’s no point in pretending to be calmer than he is. “I took Princess Hinoka’s pegasus and let it fly as it would, and she took us before that strange meadow, where those flickering warriors first attacked us.”

“Queen Hinoka now,” says Myrrha.

“Hoshido’s King and Queen are brother and sister?” demands Leo. Incest is as much of a taboo in Hoshido as it is in Nohr. He _must_ be losing his mind.

“Queen of _Nohr,_ ” says Myrrha, smirking, “wife to King Xander.”

Strength leaves Leo’s legs and he sits on the bed. “My father,” he breathes.

“Also fell to Vallite sorcery,” says Myrrha, voice taking on a soft pitch. Or perhaps Leo is going mad and his ears no longer function well. “Hoshido and Nohr allied to withstand the Vallite invasion, and sealed the alliance with royal marriages to assuage suspicion among the troops. Xander married Hinoka, and Ryoma married Camilla.”

“Elise?” asks Leo.

“With King Xander, last I heard.”

“And Corrin?”

“Missing.”

“Not dead as well?” asks Leo mockingly, though he’s unsure of who exactly he’s trying to mock.

“Her body has never been found,” says Myrrha. “There’s disagreement among the royal families as to whether she’s dead or lost.”

Meaning that “his” body was found. And Takumi’s. Leo cannot guess about Ryoma, but Xander would not have accepted his death without a corpse to prove it.

“I must speak with Takumi,” he tells Myrrha. “With guards present, if it will appease you.”

If he’s lucky, no one has had this conversation with Takumi yet, and he still has a chance to reveal his identity. Paradoxically, the Hoshidans had seemed angrier with him than with Leo (though perhaps not so paradoxically, if their nations have really been allies for the last five years).

“Takumi, or whoever he truly is, is no longer here,” says Myrrha. “He’s convinced Oboro, one of the prince’s former retainers, to escort him to a meeting with King Ryoma himself. Both of you have superb acting skills.”

“It’s not acting if it’s genuine,” sighs Leo. “I assume someone’s told him who I am.”

“Oh, how he tried to defend you, even after I explained that only _Prince_ Leo can wield Brynhildr,” says Myrrha. She offers a dramatic sigh. “Then he was so _furious_ at Nohrian treachery. I think it’s what finally convinced that fool Oboro that he might be the genuine article.”

Considering the avalanche of world-altering news that Leo is under, it’s pathetic that Takumi’s predictable rage makes him feel so small inside.

“When you say ‘furious’, are you exaggerating for dramatic effect?” asks Leo.

“He was practically spitting your name and swearing to kill you with his bare hands, so ‘furious’ might be putting it mildly,” says Myrrha. Then she waves a hand. “But all Hoshidans soften eventually. By the end of the evening, he was pleading with Oboro for you to be treated well.”

Leo wants more details. What does she mean by ‘soften’? Had Takumi looked out of control, as if in a trance, at any point? Leo assumes not, or no one would be taking him to see Ryoma. Was the curse still in effect? Or had they traveled so far away from the sorcerer responsible that it’d broken on its own?

“I can almost hear the buzz of your thoughts,” says Myrrha.

Regardless, Leo can’t babble about Takumi’s curse when he’s getting an audience with Ryoma. “If he gets to talk to his brother, then I want to speak to mine.”

“Sure, if you can get anyone important to believe you, you’ll get your own entourage to Nohr,” says Myrrha, turning towards the door.

“Xander will be forever in your debt if you can deliver his lost brother back to him,” says Leo.

“Perhaps,” says Myrrha, her hand on the doorknob, “or perhaps he’ll ask why I dragged you through the border without a proper guard when you’re perfectly safe here.”

Leo punches his pillow when the moment her footsteps have faded. Then he buries his face in it in case he can’t restrain the angry shout trying to burst out of him.

Just where the hell _is_ he? Garon is dead. Hoshido and Nohr are allies. Xander is married to Hinoka, and Ryoma to Camilla. Brynhildr is out of his hands, undoubtedly being pawed by a potentially hostile sorcerer in some seedy Hoshidan mansion where he is a prisoner. Five years of history, of _life_ , vanished.

How is he going to get out of this mess?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [New FE post at my blog](http://www.dynamicallyopposed.com/2016/04/fire-emblem-astral-dragon-needs-to-go.html). Also, just got Beruka and Saizo's C-support and LMAO.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My triumphant return to this fic!
> 
> I've started working (months ago actually) and I'm trying to keep my writing habit despite exhaustion. I can't promise super-frequent updates to this fic because hahaha I work at least sixty hours a week now, but my very ambitious goal is two short updates a month.
> 
> The good news is that I more or less know how I plan to end this fic, so at least I'm not mucking about anymore.

The next evening is much colder, and Leo can’t doze off, not even for uneasy sleep. He wishes he had a pillow, or the option to call for a hot bath to help open up his sinuses. His head cold is worsening. Icy wind blasts through the broken window above his bed. If the Hoshidans intend to keep him alive and safe, they’re doing a piss-poor job of it.

An explosion startles him.

Leo jumps to a sitting position, praying that he did fall asleep and had a brief nightmare, then a second boom hits his ears. A string of shouts follows. He scrambles to his feet, heart pounding and hands itching for a weapon. There’s nothing in the little room he could use, not even a lamp or candelabrum he could use a bludgeon.

He rushes for the doorknob, determined to blast it off even if he doesn’t have a tome. Magic is always with him, weapon or not, though he cannot focus enough power to defeat a living enemy (or a Faceless) if he runs into one unless he wields a tome or scroll. He will not be a sitting duck. The flimsy lock crumble under the command of his magic, and he bursts out into the hallway.

Once outside, he can’t even decide which way to go. The clank of swords directs him away, towards the left, hoping that he can avoid outright fighting until he finds a weapon. Of course, he runs into a dead end. He curses, head whipping about as though he can hope for a secret passage, then whirls around and goes back the way he came.

Myrrha is at the door of his little prison, flanked by a pair of ninja. They’re on Leo before he can start explaining himself, twisting his arms behind his back.

“Did you plan this?” asks one of the ninja as Myrrha opens her mouth.

“No,” says Leo. There’s another bang, followed by the sound of bricks toppling over.

“Faceless haven’t been seen in years,” says Myrrha. “Then you come babbling and golems rise from the earth once more.”

“I have nothing to do with it,” says Leo, ignoring how the ninja tightens the grip on his arm, putting traction on his shoulder joint. “Kill me if you must,” he adds, certain that they won’t if they’ve got any wits about them. He’s their only lead.

Myrrha stares without flinching through another explosion, but the ninja’s grip on Leo’s shoulder tightens. He refuses to balk at the pain. A chorus of groans, out of synch, permeates the air. The Faceless are by the stairs.

“We fight,” says Myrrha, reaching into her cloak. She produces a worn fire tome and starts handing it to Leo.

“What are you doing?” demands the ninja trying to rip Leo’s shoulder out of its socket.

“Taking a calculated risk,” says Myrrha. “The horde is nearly upon us, and he’ll be easier to protect if he has the means to defend himself.”

“Who says we’ll protect him?” says the ninja standing beside her.

Leo spots a green, mottled leg making it to the hallway. “I have a right to defend myself,” he says, wrenching away from the ninja holding him. His shoulder threatens to slip out its socket with a flash of exquisite pain, but the ninja lets go at the last moment, confirming Leo’s suspicions that someone has ordered that he not be hurt. He wastes an instant hoping that it was Takumi before remembering that Takumi’s current situation is only slightly better than his.

A second Faceless pushes at the first, moving faster than such things should be capable of. It punches the first one in the back so hard that its fist breaches the neck and erupts from the first creature’s mouth.

“We have no time for this!” Myrrha thrusts the fire tome in Leo’s face, then rips the air around the Faceless with raging lightning.

The Faceless coming up the stairs vanish in a haze of screams and purple smog, but the one that attacked and killed one of its brethren merely roars. Leo’s eyes flit about the hallway, focus on a chandelier just over the beast’s head. As the ninja fall into nervous stances, Leo aims at the chandelier. A swift clank as the Leo’s magic fire rips through the metal chains, and the chandelier falls on the Faceless’ head.

“What are you—” The more witless of the ninja pair glares, but the other one leaps at the chance, quite literally.

A shuriken lodges in the beast’s left eye, and the ninja falls on it with knives as it screeches.

“Come on!” Myrrha, grabbing Leo’s hand.

He wrenches his hand away, but he does follow her, sidestepping the fallen monster as it starts to vanish in a foul purple cloud. The ninja follow, one of them quickly jumping in front of them to provide some modicum of cover for the combined magics, and the other staying behind them to cover their backs.

It’s not so different than fighting with Nohrians, when it comes down to it.

They’re out of a narrow, winding staircase in a matter of minutes, having cut through a horde of Faceless of varying strength. Myrrha’ magical fires are nothing to be scoffed at, nor is the lightness of her feet. Despite himself, Leo starts to fight in tandem with her, as though he doesn’t need to remember that he doesn’t know who she is and she might turn on him at any moment.

Maybe being with Takumi for. . . an undetermined amount of time, apparently, has softened him more than he realizes. Or maybe it’s the way that the Hoshidans’ suspicions melt away under the monstrous onslaught. The ninja lend him a knife soon enough, and although Leo finds its short reach dangerous, it’s quite a helpful weapon for fighting inside a house.

“We should get outside!” shouts Leo.

Not even the heat of battle can make him forget the raspy ache to his throat, or the way the cold seeps through his thin clothes, all the way to his bones. With his luck, a mundane fever would kill him before one of the monsters got to him.

“We have cover here,” responds Myrrha, blasting an incoming Faceless.

“They’ll overwhelm us,” says Leo.

As if to punctuate the statement, a giant clay beast with a medallion for a face punched a hole through one of the outer walls. The ninja beside Leo launches a shuriken that bounces right off its nose. Unperturbed, the monster attacks a group of Hoshidans near the wall it had just crumbled.

“What in the world. . .” says Myrrha.

Leo has no idea, but saying so will hardly help matters. “We must find the source,” he pleads with Myrrha. “Unless you believe someone inside the keep has betrayed you, then it will be outside, possibly in the woods.”

Myrrha spares as much time as she can staring at him. “All right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My blog](http://www.dynamicallyopposed.com/) is here. Check it out if you want to see what I've been doing over the last however many months.

**Author's Note:**

> [My blog is over here](http://www.dynamicallyopposed.com/search/label/fire%20emblem). Come to talk with me about this game!


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